Cousin of Ishtar, Sister of Orichalcos
by Kaigal
Summary: When a girl loses her family, she must search for the only relatives she has left. If I say anymore, I'll give it all away. YamixOC, AtemxOC
1. Chapter One: Cousin of Ishtar

Cousin of Ishtar, Sister of Orichalcos

Cousin of Ishtar, Sister of Orichalcos

Chapter One: Cousin of Ishtar

A girl with hazel eyes stared up at the school and sighed as she looked at the building.

'Domino High School? Does that mean we can topple the building over with some other schools then?' she thought as she glanced around the empty entrance. 'Guess I'm late too' she added before heading inside to her new prison.

"Alright class, let's take our seats" the teacher said as he walked into the class room. Everyone rushed to their seats in a hurry and waited for their sleeping pill.

"Before we begin, I'd like to introduce a new student. This is Keri Tsunki, everyone please make her feel welcome" the teacher continued and the hazel eyed girl walked in while the teacher wrote her name on the board.

'No wonder people get prank called in Japan, the teacher writes our last names on the board for everyone to copy' Keri thought, eyeing the people in her class. One was buried in a laptop, four were whispering to each other; a girl and three guys, one midget, one loud mouth blond, one monkey, and a frivolous one. 'Oh someone shoot me now' she thought, almost missing where the teacher was telling her to sit.

"There's a seat, right next to Mr. Kaiba" the teacher said, all heads turning to the one with his head buried in his laptop.

'I hate high school' she sighed and walked to the back where he was, sitting down silently next to him. 'I'll just stay quiet and he won't bite off my head' she continued to herself, taking out her notebook.

'That poor girl, Mr. Gresco really sent her to her death with that seating arrangement' Tea thought, eyeing the two before turning her attention back to the lesson at hand.

Bring!

"Finally, freedom of this snooze fest before another one" Tristan commented as everyone packed up their books for their next period.

As Keri was packing up her bag, her hand accidentally nudged Kaiba's laptop which he looked up from to glare at her.

"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to" she apologized quickly; his glare was sending cold shivers up her spine.

"Stray" he muttered before turning his attention back to his laptop.

She left quickly, not wanting to end up in another confrontation with Kaiba or be late to her next class.

"Did you guys see what I just saw?" Joey asked the group as Keri quickly brushed by them.

"Kaiba scaring another student?" Tea offered but the blond ignored it.

"No, Kaiba being rude to another girl other than Tea and callin' her an animal" Joey said and the three looked at Joey with surprise.

"Will wonders never cease? Joey actually sounded smart for once" Tristan commented, riling Joey.

"Watch it" the blond told him but Tristan wasn't affected by his friend's threat.

"That was weird though, Kaiba may be mean but the only person he makes reference to as an animal is Joey. It doesn't make any sense that he'd call a person he doesn't even know a stray" Tea commented and the others nodded as the warning bell for second period sounded.

"Oh no! I've got class on the seventh floor, I'll never make it!" Joey exclaimed and took off running for his second period class.

"Is Joey ever on time for anything?" Tea rhetoricalized as the three left the hall for their classes.

Lunch Hour…

"I don't believe this, I break the sound barrier to get to class on time and the teacher gives me detention for being one second- ONE SECOND- late" Joey complained as they sat down outside near a sakura tree to eat.

"Maybe you should've left earlier instead of chatting about the new girl" Duke Devlin said as he came and joined them.

"How'd you find out about her?" Tristan asked as their Dungeon Dice playing friend sat down next to Joey.

"Word gets around when you're both new and beautiful" Duke shrugged, forming a plan in his mind.

"Should've known" Tea said with a shake of her head, sometimes these guys were unbelievable.

"Speaking of which, isn't that her over there" Yugi commented, inclining his head towards the student bench area.

"Yeah, you're right Yuge. Wait a minute, what's with Kaiba? He looks like he's pissed and he's heading her way!" Joey shouted and the gang looked at each other before they took off running.

"How dare you show me up like that in front of the class?!" Kaiba growled as he reached Keri who was about to sit down with her lunch.

"It was one question! It's not like I was re-writing your duel disk system because you missed something!" she argued back at turned her back to him to say that she was done discussing the matter.

"Don't you dare turn your back on me stray! My duel system is flawless and so was my answer on the invasion of Rome!" he shouted, grasping her wrist and turning her back around to face him just as Yugi and the gang reached the bench area.

"Let her go Kaiba. Just because you can't stand someone being better than you is no reason to hurt them" Yugi told him and Kaiba's glare redirected itself to Yugi as Kaiba threw Keri's wrist out of his hand.

"I'm not done with either of you two by a long shot" he said and walked away from them.

"Ra Almighty what the hell is his problem?" Keri muttered as she glared at Kaiba's back before facing the others.

"Kaiba's always been a hot-shot-know-it-all, he can't stand anyone being better than him at anything" Tea answered Keri's semi-rhetorical question.

"So I noticed. It's just gonna get worse tomorrow morning, we have to sit next to each other in first period and we're across from each other during third. Can't wait to see what fifth's gonna be like if we're in that class together too" Keri said, setting her lunch down and rotting around in it for her drink.

"All Kaiba takes are advanced classes though, you must be pretty smart to be in any other class other than homeroom with him" Tristan commented as Keri found her bottle of water at the bottom of the bag.

"I guess, I don't really notice if I am or not, could care less" she said with a shrug as the bell rang.

"We best go before we're all late. It was nice meeting you Keri" Yugi called as he and the others ran off towards the school before they could get detention.

It turned out that Keri was in the same fifth period class as Kaiba and the teacher placed her next to him again, causing her to wonder what she'd done to deserve such a fate. She barely knew Kaiba and yet here he hated her with every fiber of his being.

The bell couldn't have rung sooner and as soon as it did, she was gone. She practically ran through the parking lot towards her car, she had to get as far away from Kaiba as humanly possible. She wouldn't feel safe otherwise. She automatically locked all four car doors before driving away just in case Kaiba caught up with her.

Kaiba…

Immediately after arriving home, Kaiba locked himself inside the room with his super computer. He typed quickly; searching for the information he knew he'd find-Keri's records. What he found made him hate the girl even more and confirmed what he'd called her. She was nothing more than a stray.

"This information will be useful in bringing her down" he said with a smirk, printing off the information, he left to where he knew she'd be.

Domino Museum…

Her hazel orbs stared at the stone carving for the millionth time in the past week since she'd come to Domino. As soon as she'd found her mother and father dead because of her older brother, she'd gone to the only family she had left.

"Are you looking at that carving again cuz?" a voice said from the door way and she spun on her heels to see her youngest cousin.

"Marik, you shouldn't sneak up on people" Keri replied as he came and stood beside her, looking up at the carving for a moment.

Marik and Keri were one month apart in age, Keri being born ahead of Marik and never letting him live it down. Ishizu was next, being four years older than them, then Keri's brother who was a few months ahead of Ishizu. Odion was the oldest but since he was obliged to the family, Ishizu ran the household but let Odion have some freedom as well.

"What do you expect to find by looking at it constantly?" Marik asked as he motioned to it causing Keri to sigh deeply before answering.

"Answers. I want to know why he did what he did" she replied, her eyes lingering on that of the right placed figure depicted on the carving.

"Too bad I'll get my answers before you get yours" a cold voice commented from behind the two, Marik scowling as he recognized the voice without having to look.

"Kaiba, what are you doing here?" Ishizu's voice asked as she entered the room and stood in front of her brother and cousin, Odion not too far behind.

"I could ask the same of the stray but after listening to these two jibber jabber over meaningless stuff combined with what I hacked into, I already have that answer. Question is, how long do you think the charade's going to last?" he sneered, stepping into the room and stopping a few inches away from the four.

"That, Kaiba, is none of your business. None of this is, you had no right to hack into government files just because she knows more history than you do" Marik replied coldly, stepping in front of his cousin and his sister, glaring at Kaiba.

"I make everything about everyone my business, especially stray's with filthy family history and blood" Kaiba retorted, the turned and started walking out of the room while the cousin's glared daggers into his back.

"Kaiba, don't blame me for your past of pain. Both in this life and the past one you lived, Kisara would weep if she were here to see what you've become" Keri's small voice told him just as he reached the door causing him to pause and look over his shoulder at her, her eyes adverted to the floor with sadness reflecting in them.

The Next Day…

It was Tuesday, a day before the middle of the week that seemed to drag on for forever and a day. This week was no different. The teacher's lectures seemed longer but what was most excruciating was sitting beside or near Kaiba and never seeming to be able to leave. She could feel his gaze on her; she figured he was still sour about yesterday's confrontation and what she said before he left.

When the lunch bell rang, she headed to her locker and stashed her books away before heading to the cafeteria, the one place she could always find without getting lost. She just followed the sounds of people suffering. Thirty seconds after opening the door, she heard someone yelling her name, their hand waving in the air to indicate where they were.

"Sure you couldn't have yelled my name loud enough?" she asked sarcastically as she sat down next to Yugi while glaring at Joey.

"I just wanted to make sure ya weren't gonna get lost or somethin'" he answered in his defense as she sighed and stared out the window next to their table. Leaves falling whenever the wind blew in the trees. The world outside seemed to have no worries at all, but she knew differently, knew her brother and his friends were up to something she couldn't stop.

"Keri, why the long face? Sure it's school but why so down?" Tristan asked, breaking her from her reverie back into the harsh cold of reality she wished she could escape from.

"Just pondering life" she replied simply, she didn't need anyone to know more than they really should at that point.

After school…

She decided to walk that day, wanting to escape walls that surrounded her yet she was forever trapped in a web of lies and empty promises. Her brother had promised never to let anything happen to her, he lied. Her parents promised to always be there for her, they lied. Her cousins promised her a better life, so far they lied.

She felt warm tears trail down her lightly tanned cheeks as her thoughts triggered the emotional break in her barrier. She sat down on a hill overlooking the lake where she'd wondered to, not caring that she didn't know the way to her cousins from there. She just wanted to be alone.

Elsewhere…

Concerned eyes looked from the clock to their brother's back to the clock again as they fretted about. Ishizu's cousin had not returned home from school yet and it was well-past eight; no word had been heard from her.

"Sister, shall Odion and I go look for her? Marik asked, trying to keep his sister's worry to a minimum as well as his own. Ever since their cousin had come to live with them, things had become stressful for all. Keri was becoming more and more distant with each passing day, neither knew how to make her happy and now Kaiba intended to destroy her.

"Miss. Ishizu, Master Marik; the Pharaoh and his friends are here to see you" Odion interrupted, moving aside for Yugi and the others to pass by.

"Ishizu, we're not interrupting anything are we?" Tea asked as she looked at the expressions between the siblings.

"Nothing for any of you to worry about Tea, my cousin just forgot to check in with us" Ishizu replied with a bow to Yugi, her brother and Odion leaving silently. From his soul room, Yami seemed to note that things were going on in the Ishtar family that maybe needed to be revealed soon, just not yet.

"Ishizu, do you know anything about Atlantian history?" Tea asked, getting to the heart of the matter at hand. Even though Marik's dark side was gone, she didn't like to linger near him for longer than necessary.

"I'm afraid my knowledge of their history is limited. I only know of a prophecy that ties in with Egypt. It says that if the Atlantian evil were to revive, that only one person could stop it with the Pharaoh's help for they would hold power beyond human comprehension. Even the blue-eyed one pales in comparison to their power. _When disaster harms both our worlds, seek the broken one with the crescent moon._ That is all I know I'm afraid" she explained, the five of them seeming to awaken as the prophecy ended, it was as though they were seeing it in their minds.

"How do ya suggest we find this 'broken moon' person? I case ya didn't notice, the world's full o' people" Joey commented less then a minute later and Tristan conked him over the head.

"Fortunately, before I lost the ability to see into the past and future events using the Millennium Necklace, I saw the face of who it is that would help you. However, I cannot tell you for undisclosed reasons. I can tell you this though, _they are closer to you then you think_" she replied, the all knowing smirk on her face and a mischievous glint in her eyes.

No one but her knew what fate had in store for the Pharaoh and his friends, no one but fate.

Kaiba Corp…

Kaiba was debating with himself, he didn't know whether to help find the stray or not. He'd seen Marik out searching; Odion on another side of town was also looking. Smirking to himself he recalled the look in her eyes that morning, fear dwelling within them when she entered the class. He felt no sympathy for the girl, she was in alliance with two evil forces-she could destroy him.

"I don't know who your family is stray, but I will bring you down" Kaiba thought aloud as he tried to get past security codes blocking her family history files.

Museum…

"Sister, we had no luck in finding her" Marik announced as he and Odion entered the Pharaoh's Wing, noting that the Pharaoh and his friends were still there.

"Who are you looking for Ishizu?" Tristan asked, getting a funny feeling that Marik never meant for them to hear what he'd said.

"Please, do not trouble yourselves in our affairs" she answered, not wanting them to worry about someone they'd never met. Her cousin's behavior worried her, she thought for sure Marik could've found her; but then he had been used to having Rare Hunters do his searching for him.

"Come on, we're ya friends! We're always ready to help" Joey persisted to the trio, Ishizu looking away and Marik sighing heavily as he thought of all the times his dark had caused them all a great deal of torment and they still refused to back down until he was defeated.

"Our cousin came to live with us recently since her parent's death and her brother's disappearance. So far she's been having trouble adjusting and now Kaiba's threatening to expose family secrets to other people to degrade her reputation. She was depressed when she went to school this morning, she's yet to come home" Marik told them, not looking at any of them in the face since he felt he was letting Keri down by revealing that much information to the Pharaoh.

"What's your cousin's name; we could help look for her" Yugi offered, a determined look in his eyes, Marik looking up at the sound of his voice, his frown turning into a smirk.

"Don't bother, I'm right here in the doorway" a light voice sounded and all heads turned it the direction of it, Yugi and his friends gasped as their faces lit with shock.

"K…Keri?! You're their cousin?" Tristan exclaimed as she walked into the room, her hair dripping wet from the rain pouring outside, strands clinging to her face as her shoes squeaked when she walked.


	2. Chapter Two: Keri's Story

Chapter Two: Sister Of Orichalcos

Chapter Two: Sister Of Orichalcos

"Why didn't you tell us? It's not like we hate them or anything" Yugi commented, still a bit shocked that Kaiba's scholastic rival was the cousin of the people Kaiba just plain hated. Although, something told him Kaiba knew also since he was prone to pry and hack files.

"I just felt it was best if you didn't know yet. I wanted to tell you myself when I felt that not only you were ready, but myself also" Keri replied, something triggering in Joey's mind with the manner of her language.

"Hey wait a minute; you didn't refer to Yuge as Pharaoh like your cousins!" Joey exclaimed, Keri rolling her eyes and Tristan giving him a look that said 'he actually has a brain'.

"I'm not a tomb keeper you dolt, I don't have to. I can, just don't" she explained like she would to a three year old, though Joey fit that category most days. Suddenly the clock tower struck ten times, alerting the others that it was time to head home before their parents would worry.

"It's getting late, we need to head for home" Tea announced, the other three nodding in agreement with her.

"I'll walk with you, it's only fair" Keri told them and left quickly to change into some dry clothes for the walk, giving the others a chance to converse.

"I hope you won't be too hard on her when she finally decides to tell you everything" Ishizu said with a sad yet hopeful look in her eyes, she hoped the Pharaoh and his friends would soon be close with her also.

"Don't worry about a thing Ishizu, we'll have her back to normal in no time at all" Tea declared with a wink as she gave a thumbs up.

"As for Kaiba, we'll put his sorry rich butt in da trash where it belongs" Joey agreed just as Keri re-entered the room in dry clothes and her hair pinned with a clip. They stared at her for a few moments before she started to get irritated.

"We gonna leave or stand here all night?" she remarked, earning a disproving look from Ishizu and an amused look from Marik, she shrugged both off. They left shortly after wards and dropped Tea off first before heading towards Joey and Tristan's street. Once those two were gone, it was off to Yugi's grandfather's Game Shop.

Sometime between Joey's and the journey to Yugi's, Keri noticed that Yugi seemed different, more quiet and serious then before. Her cousins told her that the Pharaoh and Yugi inhabited the one body with their two minds and often switched back and forth. She wondered if the person walking next to her was this Pharaoh she'd been told about.

"What's your name?" she asked finally, breaking the silence between them as they walked. He chuckled lightly at her words and she noted that his voice seemed deeper than Yugi's.

"I was wondering if you'd notice. Ishizu and Marik can always seem to tell if Yugi and I switch on them, it seems the trait runs in the family. Call me Yami" he replied and a faint trace of a smile graced Keri's lips for the first time in a long while. Something about Yami told her she could trust him with anything, the wisdom and knowledge reflecting in his violet eyes told her this.

"Ishizu told me that you don't know your real name. I told her that going through life with a name but no sense of self is ten times worse than knowing yourself and having no true name. As Shakespeare once wrote, 'What's in a name? A rose by any other name would still smell as sweet'" she told him with a grin and he chuckled, the tell-tale smirk on his face like always.

"Do you not know yourself Keri? Is that why you are unhappy?" he asked her, stopping at a bench they'd come to and sitting down, Keri following suit. They sat quiet for a minute, fireflies dancing around the lamp of the streetlight.

"You wish to know my story Yami? Don't you have enough to worry about" she remarked, staring up at the moon, her eyes filled with longing and sadness.

"I worry about all of my friends, you're no different. I want to know why you are filled with such sorrow" he stated and she looked at the sincerity in his eyes and sighed in defeat; she knew, he knew, he had her.

"You win, I'll spill. I was born in Egypt a month before Marik was, our mom's were sisters. My brother had been born four years earlier in another country; he's got the accent to prove it. When we were little, he would spend time with me and keep me safe at school or if anyone were to hurt me when he wasn't around, he'd go after them in a heartbeat.

A few years ago, all that started to change. He started coming home later and later from his friends place and then one night, he didn't come home at all. After that my parents and I confronted him, but it was a mistake to do so. They told him he needed to spend more time at home and I told him that I missed having him around to hang out with.

He started laughing at the things we were telling him and started scaring us by telling us what he'd been up to. My parents told me to leave the house and run for the nearest neighbor who was a ten minute walk down the road. Before I could leave though, my brother stopped laughing like a maniac and suddenly in a flash of green light, mom and dad were dead cold and my brother had vanished without a word.

I stayed in the house curled into a ball rocking back and forth on my heels praying to the gods to bring my parents back for if they didn't I'd have no choice but to go live with my Uncle and he'd forbid me to the outside world like he did my cousins. I couldn't live like that since I'd grown up admiring the world around me. I planned to stay in that house by myself until I was old enough to go on my own. Unfortunately the neighbors came by the next day and found me in the corner. They'd come looking for my dad since he was a farmer and supplied them with food to eat and he hadn't been at market when he was suppose to and mom didn't go in his place if he was ill.

Since only I knew where my Uncle lived, I had to travel alone, making sure no one followed me for if they did and the tomb keepers were discovered, Uncle would've left me in the desert to fend for myself. When I got there a week later, the place was deserted and looked like a fight had broken out. Things were thrown everywhere, lamps were broken and the Millennium Items they guarded were gone just like all of them. I searched for clues of where they could've gone, but found nothing. I waited for three weeks for someone to return after I fixed the place up, no one did.

I decided to live there on my own where no one could find me. I went and got a job in the market selling jewelry under a sales merchant. One day when I was working a news broadcast came on the television set across the road at another booth, it said that the Egyptian artifacts uncovered by Ishizu had landed safely in Domino and the exhibit would open in a week. Ishizu then came on and gave a brief conference. Now I knew where my cousins were, but I had no way to get there. For the next few months I worked any and every job I could find and when I finally had enough money I left for Domino.

I called the museum as soon as the plane landed and asked for Ishizu but the curator, the one that retired, told me that she was off work for a few weeks to participate in the Battle City finals. It seemed I'd hit another dead end. I rented a room at a hotel near the museum and got a job to pay for it until Ishizu came back and when she did I told her everything that had happened and in turn she told me what had happened with Marik. We decided at that point to stay in Domino where I would start over and Ishizu, Marik and Odion would run the museum. Which in turn lead us to this conversation" she finished, her throat was soar from so much talking, and she wished she'd brought a drink with her but then she wasn't expecting an interrogation.

"I see, and now I understand why you hold such pain in your eyes. It's true what you said to Ishizu. I know that now and I'm grateful to have been shown that. I thank you" Yami said sincerely, a grin on his lips as he looked from her up to the stars. The two sat in silence but after five minutes, Keri decided to break it.

"You should get home, your Grandpa will be worried about you" she told him, standing up and offering her hand to Yami which he took as he stood also. The light flashed off her hair clip and Yami noted that the Millennium Eye was etched onto it, probably because she was related to the tomb keeper family.

Then something caught his eye that seemed out-of-place in the modern day and age they were in. It was a necklace that not only had the Seal of Orichalcos etched on it, but the Millennium Eye as well. It perplexed him that both symbols would be seen in one place when the Seal and Eye were against each other.

"Earth to Yami, come in Yami" a light voice said and he snapped out of his thoughts to see Keri waving her hand in front of his face, he grabbed her hand which indicated to her that he was back in reality again.

"So, which planet did you visit?" she rhetoricalized as she took her hand back from Yami's grip and started to head in the direction of the Game Shop.

"I was visiting yours. Care to join me?" Yami joked and she lightly glared at him lightly.

"I'm there everyday" she replied hitting him playfully in the chest and took off running towards his home causing Yami to glare playfully.

"You just hit the King of Games and now you challenge me to a race? You're going down!" he called as he took off after her, earning and 'eep!' from his opponent who was just up ahead.

"Yami's really angry; I hope he doesn't catch me. It's really hard to run with untied shoes on my feet" she sang as she continued to run ahead of him through the street, looking back every now and then.

Yami was gaining on her really quickly but every time he seemed to almost catch up with her, she seemed to sprint out of his reach again. With the Game Shop in view, Keri burst forwards towards it, not daring to look back for she heard Yami's footsteps fast approaching. Her hand stretched out for the door handle and she just grasped it when she felt two strong arms wrap around her and lift her away, causing her to pout and Yami to chuckle at her.

"Care to settle for a draw?" he asked as she continued to try and reach for the door knob that was just out of reach of her fingertips, which aggravated her greatly and just fueled Yami's amusement. With her long brown hair pinned up Yami's violet eyes wandered to the marking on her shoulder blade, he couldn't make out what it was though because the tank top she wore had wider straps and hide some of it from him.

His eyes were entranced by the marking though and his subconscious was bidding him to reveal the rest of it to himself, causing him to unconsciously remove his right arm from around Keri's waist and start to brush the strap aside further down her arm. Keri gasped at the same time Yami's eyes widened at the sight before him, the marking was a crescent moon.

"Y…Yami?" she said, trying to see behind her in order to tell what Yami was up to, all she saw was the look of surprise on his face before it looked at her in curiosity. His violet eyes bore into hers and for the first time that day, Keri was almost afraid of him.

"When did you get this?" he asked her, tracing the mark with his finger causing an unexpected reaction. Keri's eyes snapped completely open, her pupils dilating as her body began to twitch uncontrollably, which caused Yami to wonder what was going on.

'Yugi, go to Grandpa, I fear I shouldn't move her' he told Yugi through his mind frantically and within a few seconds, the lights in the Game Shop illuminated as Grandpa came rushing out, the cordless phone in his hands, his fingers hurriedly dialing for an ambulance.

"Pharaoh, the paramedics are on their way, you'll have to support her until then. They advised me not to move her since it could further harm her" Grandpa told Yami, sirens in the distance getting closer and closer with each passing second until they reached the shop and rushed Keri away to the hospital.

At The White Walled Hell…

Her head was spinning so fast she felt like she was gonna be sick at any moment. Her whole body ached with so much pain she wished someone would put her out of her misery. She couldn't remember what had happened, the last she could remember was Yami talking to her, asking her about conceding to a draw and then the look on his face after he slipped the strap of her tank top down her shoulder further and then nothing. All she knew now was that she felt like she was going to die.

Elsewhere in the building…

Yami paced back and forth in the waiting room, Grandpa had gone back to the Shop since he had to leave early the next day for a Gamers Conference in Washington D.C. over in America and since Yugi had woken him through his subconscious mind, he needed to readjust. Marik and Ishizu were still on their way and Tea, Joey and Tristan were in the cafeteria. Joey and Tristan were stuffing their faces and Tea was trying to keep them out of trouble.

Something was going on, he had a feeling Dartz had a part to play in what had happened to Keri, especially since he was almost positive she was the one Ishizu had been talking about earlier but left them to discover on their own. It seemed Dartz knew who she was and caused this reaction when he'd touched the moon on her back which lead to another question. If Dartz knew about Keri and her ability to destroy him, who had told him so? Was it the brother that had run off after killing her parents? Or someone else? With all the questions and thoughts roaming around in his head, he failed to see Marik and Ishizu enter the hospital until he heard their voices asking the receptionist to see their cousin.

"You don't understand, it's important that we see her, we're the only family she has left" Marik argued with the receptionist, his eyes reflecting concern and anger for his cousin.

"Marik, let them do their job, they'll tell us when we can see her. Let's go talk to Yugi" she told him, saying Yugi's name as a cover from her usual title of the Pharaoh since the hospital personal might get suspicious. The two walked over to him, Ishizu's eyes softening at the despair and confusion she felt from Yami.

"Don't worry my king, she's been through much worse and has pulled through just fine, you'll see" she told him as she sat down and motioned for both her brother and Yami to do the same.

"I know but I feel that this is somehow my fault, that the reason's she's here is because of my curiosity. Ishizu, is she the one you were referring to earlier? She told me her past before all this happened and the crescent moon marking on her back leads me to believe that she'd the one you were talking about earlier" he explained to the twenty-one year old woman, his head in his hands as a doctor came around the corner and asked for the relatives to Keri Tsunki, causing all three of them to look up at the man.

"I'm Ishizu Ishtar; this is my brother Marik and Keri's best friend Yugi Moto. Her parents are in the beyond, I'm her guardian and her cousin" she told the man after she stood up, shaking his hand as she introduced herself, her brother and Yami under his vessels name.

"I'm Dr. Brown, if you three would like to follow me, I'll take you to where your cousin and friend is resting" he told them, motioning for them to follow him down the corridor towards where the patients quarters were. The four walked into the room, Yami's sight immediately lingering on the form lying still in the hospital bed near the window.

"As far as we can tell based on the tests and the condition she was in when she was brought here, it seems Ms. Tsunki has suffered from a seizer, this explains the far-away look, the non-blinking eyes and the erratic movements her body made. It seems to have been triggered by a sever amount of anxiety, something I advise you keep an eye on once she's home. We'd like to keep her for another twelve hours for observation if it's alright with you" Dr. Brown explained to Ishizu, who gave full compliance and asked if it was alright if they stayed with their cousin in which he agreed they could.

The Next Day…

Since it was Wednesday, Yugi needed to go to school for the day, but promised to stop by straight afterwards at the museum since she would be home by then. He thought if Keri was the one Ishizu was talking about, why did she say that she couldn't disclose her name to them? Did Keri even know of her powers? It was confusing to him to think about what was going on with this girl, had she come back from another life like he had? Ishizu always knew more then she revealed and it was beginning to get on his nerves.

Museum…

"I thought I might find you here. How are you feeling?" a voice came from behind her as she stared at the tablet again, turning to see Yami.

"Alright I guess, although I don't remember what happened after you lowered the strap to my tank top" she replied, remembering the fear she'd felt as he'd done so, even she didn't understand why though.

"I lowered it because of the marking behind it and when I traced it with my fingers, you suddenly went rigid. Keri, how long ago did you get that?" he explained, since it seemed she couldn't even recall the fact that he had touched the marking.

"I was born with it, it's always just been my birthmark, but I sense you're asking for a reason" she said, looking him in the eye, violet meeting hazel.

"Ishizu told us that the key to defeating Dartz, is one with a broken soul and has a crescent moon marking. The necklace you wear is also perplexing" Yami confessed, it seemed she had a right to know this and if Ishizu wasn't allowed to say anything, he would.

"My necklace? It was a gift from Marik and Ishizu, there's nothing special about it" she revealed, confused by Yami's words of what seemed to be worry about the charm.

"Keri, your necklace bares the mark of not only the Seal of Orichalcos, but the Millennium Eye as well. Those markings are of conflicting places, the Seal is Atlantian while the Eye is Egyptian. In the past, the countries were at war" Yami explained, hoping she'd understand how they knew she was the one to help him defeat Dartz.

"Dartz is not your true enemy, someone else is behind it all. He never dies Pharaoh, but you will defeat him for good" Keri whispered, her voice mulled with another as it echoed around the room, something seeming to posses her.

"Keri, are you alright? You sound different; would you like me to get Ishizu and Marik?" Yami asked her just as the room filled with an unfamiliar presence that surrounded them. Electricity crackled throughout the room, causing Keri's hair to seem like it was floating around her as Yami tried to figure out what was going on.

"Beyond the broken past, inside the desert sand. The key is carved in stone, it is which the Pharaoh doesn't know. Spoken from another's lips, one he's already kissed. The power lies deep inside, it can separate the minds. Stand alone on two feet, his own person the Pharaoh can be" she whispered so hauntingly that her words echoed off the walls around them, her eyes darkening to almost a black colour as she spoken. Abruptly, her eyes faded back and the world no longer seemed to stand still around them.

"What?" she asked curiously as Yami continued to stare wide eyed at her like a fish or something closely resembling one. She had no recollection of what'd just transpired and knew nothing of the fact that five minutes just past by without her.

"It's nothing, I just thought of something that's all" he replied, covering up the fact that she'd just been possessed by something she didn't know anything about.

"Well, well isn't this a pretty sight. The Pharaoh getting along with my dear baby sister, too bad neither of you will live long enough to cement your friendship" a snide voice said as they entered the room, two others with him also looking like they were better than them.

"Valon, Raphael and Alastor? What are you three doing here in a museum? Come to learn that you're going to get your butts kicked?" Keri hissed as she glared at the trio standing only a few feet away from her and Yami.

"Smart ass little nuisance, didn't Mum and Dad tech you any better?" Valon retorted causing her blood to boil as she glared at him with a blazing fire in her eyes.

"Maybe they would've if you hadn't gone and killed them, you bastard!" she screamed as realization suddenly dawned on Yami that Valon was Keri's brother meaning that she'd been betrayed by him.

"Enough! We've come to challenge you Pharaoh but since the twerp's with you, we may as well challenge you both" Raphael interjected, breaking the sibling's fight up before it became one with physical contact. Although, since Dartz needed her dead, it wouldn't have mattered anyways.

"Why not feed your own souls to the Leviathan, save yourselves the humiliation" Keri quipped angrily, if they wanted change that badly and for Dartz to rule, she was sure they were highly expendable to him.

"I take it you accept then?" Alastor replied with a smirk, he'd enjoy this duel tremendously.

"Only on one condition, it's a fair three-on-three battle" Yami answered matching Alastor's smirk with on of his own, if they were going to battle then it would only be fair to fight properly.

"Alright then, if that's the case, let's make it four on four, that way the girl's can fight it out" Valon agreed as he referred to Mai and Keri despite the fact that Mai was no where to be found.

"Fine. Joey, Kaiba, Keri and myself against you, Alastor, Mai and Raphael" Yami replied, laying out the match-ups as he did so before to bikers turned to leave.

"You've got one hour Pharaoh to prepare and just to make sure you all show up, we'll be taking one soul for every minute you're late" Raph told them as they turned and left to prepare for their duels.

"And just how are we going to get Kaiba to agree with this? Case you didn't notice the few hundred times before, he hates us all" Keri mentioned after her brother and friends were gone, leaving the two of them alone again.

"Just trust me, he'll show" Yami replied, giving her a wayward smile as he tried to ease her fears and discontent. This battle meant more to him by the minute, if any of them lost, the world would be doomed.


	3. Chapter Three: Destiny Nite

Chapter Three: Destiny Nite

Chapter Three: Destiny Nite

The rain threatened to pour from the sky above as thunder cracked and lightning reigned down from the darkened world. Eight people stood in groups of four across from each other ready for an all-out duel to either prove their worth, destroy the world or save the world from being destroyed. However, the four using the power of the Orichalcos had planed on separating the four friends so that encouraging thoughts couldn't be spoken and they were unable to feed off the positive energy.

With identical menacing smirks, Mai, Valon, Alastor and Raphael took off in four separate directions in which their opponents had no choice but to follow them. Alastor led Kaiba to an area with warehouses, Joey was lead to the park, Yami followed Raph to the industrial sector and Mai led Keri to the beach where the tide was coming in. Simultaneously, they summoned the Seal of Orichalcos onto the field to trap the soul of whoever lost.

"I summon Celtic Guardian in defense mode" Yami said as he drew his cards and placed his monster on the field.

"I summon Bistro Butcher in defense mode" Kaiba said miles away as he drew his own cards from his deck.

"I summon Baby Dragon in defense mode" Joey cheered as he placed the monster on the field, earning a look from Valon.

"I summon Valkyrie Magician in defense mode" Keri smirked as her monster took the field, she'd be burned alive before she let Mai win this duel.

Later…

As Mai summoned her Harpies one by one Keri's defense started to get weaker and weaker as the Seal increased Mai's power. If only she could find a way to break the Seal, or to come in possession of it then she could have a fighting chance against Mai. Joey and Kaiba's duels had ended almost simultaneously with both being the victor but now Keri and Yami still had to win theirs. Surprisingly, as Joey went to cheer on Yami, Kaiba came to watch her own duel against Mai; why, she didn't know. Drawing her start-of-turn card, she smiled as she saw which card it was before playing it on the field.

"I play Field Swap; this card allows me to change the current field card in play with another, my own or otherwise. So I play Valkyrie Temple in place of your Seal, giving my Valkyrie's the advantage over your Harpies. Magician Valkyrie, attack" Keri ordered as Mai's Seal was replaced by the Temple and her Magician Valkyrie destroyed one of her three Harpies, decreasing her Pet Dragon's attack points.

"Don't get comfortable yet, your Temple expires in three turns starting from when it's played, you've only got two more left" Mai sneered as she drew another card from her hand, ending her turn without playing a card.

"Two is all I need cause now I play Return from the Grave to bring back your Seal but for my side. Magician Valkyrie, attack another one of her Harpies" she replied and watched as another of Mai's Harpies was destroyed wondering what the blond was planning since she ended her turn again after drawing.

With only one Harpy left, Keri's Magician destroyed it as well, ending her turn and Temple advantage as Mai was down to only her Pet Dragon to defend her remaining 500 life points from her. Keri herself had 1000 life points left to defend her from whatever Mai was planning.

"Now it's my turn, I play Dragon Armor. Not only does it increase my Pet Dragon's attack points but it also makes it immune to any magic spells my opponent may have" Mai said as the orange dragon now stood with metallic metal armor protecting its body as it protected Mai's life points.

"Time to be defeated Mai. First, I play the Seal of Orichalcos; next I play Graceful Cherubim to increase my Magician's attack points; finally, I sacrifice my Mystical Elf and give her attack points to my Magician, making her stronger than your Pet Dragon. Now, Magician Valkyrie attack!" Keri ordered and watched as Mai's dragon was destroyed, decreasing her life points to zero.

As soon as Mai's life points hit zero, the Seal closed in around her and despite the fact that Keri had used the Seal; it had had no effect on her mentality. It appeared to Kaiba that she was completely immune to its effects nor that she needed a piece of the Orichalcos to use it.

"Stop gaping Kaiba, we need to find Yugi and Joey" she hissed and set off in the direction both her and Mai had come in before heading to where she thought that Yami and Raph may have gone off to.

As she arrived at the industrial part of Domino, she was surprised to see the sight that befell her. Yami was using Raph's Seal with a relentless fortitude, sacrificing his monsters left and right.

"Keri, I'm so glad ta see yah. Maybe you can help snap Yuge outta it" Joey said as she made her way over to the blond, just as Raph noticed her.

"Forget it Wheeler, no one can enter the dueling arena until the duel is over; besides, the Seal prevents anyone from entering anyways" Raph sneered, there was no way she could break through the barrier even if it was prophesized that she'd help the Pharaoh defeat Dartz.

'All I need to do is reach him inside the barrier before he loses to Raph' she thought as she realized Yami's sudden lust for power made him lose focus of the bigger picture.

Walking away from Joey, she positioned herself on Yami's right side and stretched her hand through the barrier, grasping his hand before he could draw. Yami's gaze turned to hers as the red inside his violet eyes faded and the Orichalcos vanished from his and his monsters foreheads; yet the Seal itself stayed intact and under his control.

"Uh Keri, what are yah doin'?" Joey asked for he couldn't understand what exactly was going on.

"If you had watched Keri's duel, you would know that the Seal has no effect on her Wheeler" Seto's snide voice replied instead of Keri as the barrier around the Seal broke off, leaving just the Orichalcos itself.

"Basically Joey, I'm grounding him so that the Seal can't manipulate his mind. As long as I can keep my hold, he'll be fine" she explained, elaborating on what Kaiba meant.

"Keri, move your arm with mine", Yami told her before turning to his opponent, "I may be lower than you in attack points Raphael, but I will still win this duel" he vowed and drew his next card.

(20 mins later)

Raph was close to being defeated but unfortunately, by dragging the duel out for so long, Keri's ability to ground Yami was beginning to waver.

"Better make this move count Pharaoh or else your shield's going to give out before the duel's over" Raph taunted as the pale, barely conscious girl still continued to defy him.

"I'll make it count alright, in fact, this last move is for her. I play Dark magician; Dark Magic Attack!" he ordered and his best monster destroyed Raphael's Guardian Yeatos and last few life points.

As the Seal vanished, Yami could no longer feel the added warmth on his right arm that'd been there since Keri had helped him. He quickly caught her left hand that'd been grounding him with his right as his left arm caught her from falling.

'Pharaoh, we'd better bring her back to the museum, she needs rest' Yugi said through their linked minds, a tell-tale look in his eyes as he watched his darker half.

'I agree. We also need to tell Ishizu and Marik what we've discovered' he replied, hoisting the rather light girl onto his back and motioning for Joey to follow as Kaiba went off on his own.

(Museum)

Yami watched as Ishizu, Marik and Odion discussed something privately as they made sure that all was well with Keri. Joey had broken off from them claiming that he had a test in the morning and needed some sleep. He had this feeling that things were about to become more interesting now that Keri was partially aware of her abilities, but also more dangerous for her. Surely Dartz now knew that this girl was definitely a threat to his plans and would be looking for her.

"My Pharaoh, there is something we wish to discuss with you concerning our cousin. I've been offered to become curator of the Cairo museum; unfortunately, I have to be there by the end of the week which means that I must leave tomorrow. Marik and Odion are coming with me but I'm afraid that Keri's destiny is here at the moment" Ishizu told him, a bit nervous because she couldn't inform Keri personally of the changes to her and the other's location.

'Offer to let her live with Grandpa and I, he won't mind' Yugi said through their link as Yami thought of something to say to her.

"Yugi, Grandpa and I can take care of her. Grandpa is gone most of the time anyways, Yugi needs someone else around the house aside from me" Yami replied awkwardly, wondering why Yugi just didn't come out and say this himself.

"I thank you my Pharaoh, I hope she won't be too much trouble" Ishizu remarked, bowing to him in gratitude despite the fact he always told her not to, before escorting him out.

Next Day At School…

Keri wandered the halls, lost in her own little world. Ishizu, Marik and Odion had left that morning before she had really woken up, informing her that it was for the best. The letter Ishizu had left for her sat in her pocket, unread. She couldn't understand why her only family wanted to leave her just after she'd found them; was there something going on that they failed to mention? So caught up in her thoughts, she walked right into Kaiba as he came from the other way.

"Watch it Stray" he sneered, his cold tone breaking her from her thoughts.

"If you ever stop being an asshole, maybe I will" she retorted, stepping around him as she continued onwards.

"Kisara" he suddenly said, that one name causing her to stop and turn.

"What about her" she asked, not sure why he'd bring up someone from a life he claimed a fairytale.

"Is that who you were? The peasant girl Kisara?" he continued and she shook her head in reply.

"No, Kisara is your Dragon Kaiba. Not everyone was lucky enough to return, or so I've been told" she explained, turning back around and continuing on.

'Then why do I know you?' Kaiba thought as he watched her retreating form fade away into the crowds of people.

Later…

"Hey Keri, wait up!" Yugi called after school when he saw her roaming the halls.

"Either you weren't loud enough or she's too deep in thought to hear you" Tristan remarked as the younger girl kept walking away from them all.

"I'm not sure, but she's staying with Grandpa and I so I wanted to know if she had her stuff ready to be moved" he replied, the spare room had been emptied out before he'd left for school, not that there had been much in it.

"I'm sure she'll be over later, it'll be fine" Tea commented, closing her bag as they waited fro Joey, although he probably had detention again.

Elsewhere…

Although Keri had heard Yugi, she ignored him as other people's voices echoed in her mind. It was giving her a migraine so bad that she needed to sit down. Ever since Seto had had that five minute talk with her earlier, sentences and voices had started popping into her mind.

"Keri?" the word broke though the voices, its clarity so definitive that it shattered the others. Glancing up, she found Kaiba looking down at her, everyone else already having left school to start their weekends.

"What now?" she hissed, her migraine pounding so loudly in her ears she thought it a miracle her head hadn't exploded.

"You look like shit, I'm taking you to Yugi's" he replied steely, motioning for her to get up.

"I can walk there myself, I know the way" she spat, glaring up at him as she held her head, cursing the light.

"I doubt you'd make it" he argued, trying to get her to at least stand if she insisted on fighting him.

"I don't trust you" she admitted, he was being nice, it bothered her greatly.

"Don't care" he shrugged and lifted her off the bench, carrying her to the waiting limo despite her protests. As the car passed buildings, trees and people, Keri's migraine lessened to a dull ache, allowing her some relief.

"If you weren't Kisara, then who were you?" Seto asked, the divider between them and the driver already up.

"No one, I have no past in ancient Egypt. Ishizu would've told me if I did" she replied, he cousin never said anything about her being in Egypt like the others.

'Than why do I feel this way?' he though as the car once again became silent just as it slowed in front of Yugi's place. Stepping out, her protests against him journeying any further fell on deaf ears as he practically dragged her into the store.

"Just a minute!" Yugi called from somewhere in the back as he heard the bell chimed signaling someone was there.

"Kaiba, what are you doing here?" he asked as he came around to the store where the CEO's height hid Keri from view.

"I believe this belongs to you" he replied, pulling the girl out from behind him and into sight.

"Keri, I thought you'd be by later with your things. Why are you with Kaiba if you don't get along?" Yugi asked the slightly taller girl that Kaiba was holding by the wrist.

"That's a good question and I'm sure there's a logical answer that the Ice-pop will know" she replied, glaring at him pointedly to let her go.

"She's ill" he remarked simply, shrugging his shoulders as he turned to leave.

"Well thanks for bringing her over then" Yugi called, the CEO brushing him off as he left the duo to their own devices.

"And he says I've got issues" Keri commented as Yugi led her upstairs to the room he'd cleared that morning.

"Since you're not feeling all that great, Joey, Tristan, Tea and I could retrieve your things for you so you can get some rest" he offered as the younger girl sat atop the bed and looked around.

"If it's not a problem for any of you, that'd be great" she replied, her migraine already returning to full force.

"Not at all, I'll be back in a bit. Grandpa's out doing some shopping, I'll leave a note for him in case he returns before I do" he said and left the store, making sure the sign said 'Closed'.

Keri laid curled into a ball as the pain intensified to an unknown level. Crying out, she prayed for the pain to cease but it didn't and she fell into darkness.

Egypt, 3000 BCE…

"Keep movin' you lot of trash, I intend to make a fortune off of you" Apothos yelled to the line of Grecian slaves that were bounded together by chains. Overall, he had 67 slaves to sell to the Egyptian nobility and all but one was male. Kahara, daughter of Micinea, had been given to him by Micinea to pay off hid debt and he in turn, would personally sell her to the highest bidder. Apothos watched as the men were sold off like cattle, keeping the girl chained to the post next to him at all times until it was time.

"Next we have a direct bidding transaction by Apothos, son of Zenon, from Greece" the auctioneer announced, watching as Apothos dragged the chained girl into the arena.

Meanwhile…

Cold blue eyes watched from the VIP section of the auction ring as the Grecian slave trader personally brought forth the next slave. A Grecian girl no older than him with hazel eyes, long brown hair and slender build. He felt compelled for some reason, almost as thought the Gods were telling him to save her.

"I bid fifty silver pieces!" he yelled, knowing that the noble's wouldn't dare challenge one of the Pharaoh's High Priests.

"Sold!" Apothos declared and the crowd parted as the Priest made his way over to where he and the slave girl were.

"Here is your silver" he said, handing him over a sack containing the fifty pieces.

"And here is your slave; enjoy her while she lasts" Apthos smirked and left, the boat back to Greece leaving that afternoon.

"I am Set, one of the Pharaoh's six High Priests. You belong to him and his heir and shall serve them personally, no one else" Set told her as he removed the chain bonds around her wrists and ankles.

"Master Set, they call me Kahara" she replied and bowed, never looking him in the eyes.

"I'm not your master nor your owner, the Pharaoh's heir is; let us go" Set corrected and led her along the city streets, guards on either side to prevent any problems. As they reached the palace steps Kahara realized that she'd never see the outside world through free eyes ever again.

Three years later…

Kahara the Grecian servant girl sighed as she picked figs for the Pharaoh to eat. In all honesty, it was never the current Pharaoh she served most but rather, his son. The six Priests: Set, Mahad, Isis, Shada, Kareem and Auknaden saw her consistently daily and only Auknaden refused to acknowledge her. Isis had become like an elder sister, guiding her during her first month while Mahad and Shada could be trusted beyond reasonably doubt. Set however, had once taken quiet a liking to her until he'd met Kisara and then decided to peruse her instead.

"How's my favourite girl today?" Set's voice asked from behind her while she reminisced about her first few years at the palace.

"Master Set, if I am your favourite girl than what do you call Kisara?" she asked teasingly, knowing he's take it jokingly.

"As of today, my wife" he replied and she squealed happily, running over and giving him a sisterly hug for that was how their relationship was, like brother and sister.

"That's great Master Set! Now you going to help me or what?" she asked, referring to the half-empty basket she still had to fill.

"I'll take the 'or what' and tell you a secret instead" he bartered; he wasn't really the fig-picking type.

"Not as helpful, but okay" she agreed as she resumed her task again, still listening to what he was telling her.

"Mana told me last night that she knows someone who is out to court you" he revealed and she turned to him with a frown which puzzled him. He thought she'd be happy someone wanted to court and marry her other than himself once upon a time.

"But that can't be possible, only the Priests, Mana. Anzu, Jono, Honda and the Pharaoh's son know me. You, Jono, Honda, Shada, Kareem and Auknaden are already married and Mahad is in the middle of courting Isis. Unless it's one of Jono's guards, I can't think of anyone else that would try to court me" she replied and she had no intention of being courted by someone she didn't know.

"You know Kahara, for all your intelligence, I'm surprised you can't guess. Everyone else already knows" Set told her, retreating back to the palace and leaving her to her thoughts.

Domino, 2000 CE…

Hazel orbs fluttered open as they receded from the darkness. Feeling weight upon her, she looked down to see Yugi using her as a pillow while he slept. Suddenly, Yami's spectral form appeared next to him.

"How are you feeling? You've been out of it for a while now" he said, noticing the paleness in her skin and the dullness in her eyes.

"Do you still have the Millennium Necklace Ishizu gave you?" she asked, trying to ignore the nauseating feeling in her stomach.

"Yes, it's in Yugi's room. Did you see something while you were asleep?" he replied, curious as to what she saw and if it was able to help them.

"I know the reason that Kaiba's acting strange but I think there's more to learn" she said, recalling what'd happened between Seto's past self and apparently, her own.

"I'm confused, I thought Kaiba's former self loved a girl named Kisara and I know Ishizu would've told us if you were she" Yugi said as he woke up, rubbing sleep from his eyes.

"Yes, he loved and married Kisara but, he loved me first" she explained, getting out of bed, her migraine having disband during her visions.

"I don't understand, why didn't Ishizu mention your past in Egypt to any of us?" Yami asked, skeptical of why the older woman would refuse him knowledge.

"I think this is one ancient mystery I'm to discover on my own. Yugi, may I see my cousin's Item? I want to see if it'll help" she explained, turning to the currently solid boy out of the duo who nodded and ran across the hall to get it.

"Who were you back then Keri? Maybe we knew each other" Yami suggested and waited while the younger girl sorted out her thoughts.

"I was the only daughter of Micinea, born in the city of Delphi on the country of Greece. I was sold to slavery to pay off my father's debt and was then brought to and sold in Egypt. However, the name of my former self escapes me, odd since it was spoken enough" she replied, wondering why she couldn't remember a name on the tip of her tongue.

"Here's the Item Keri, I hope you know what you're doing" Yugi said as he returned and placed the Millennium Necklace into her hands, waiting for something to happen.

"So do I. Millennium Item of history told, let us see my ancient past unfold" she chanted, closing her eyes against the bright light the Item shone.

Egypt, 2996 BCE…

"Kahara, Kahara! Guess what Master taught me!" Mana cried as she ran over to the woman trying to get the laundry finished for the Prince.

"If it's an easier way to clean silk sheets his highness spilt wine upon, I'm all for it!" the Grecian servant called back laughingly as the younger girl nearly ran her over.

"I don't know such a spell but I'm sure Master Mahad does" Mana replied enthusiastically, trying to get the woman to enjoy herself just a little.

"Listen Mana, I need to get the laundry done. You going to help me or stand there all day?" she teased, everyone had become accustom to her light and joyful way of living her days. Although dedicated, she wasn't one to stress over her work load so long as she finished by nightfall.

"Pardon me young Mana, but the servant girl has been requested to meet with the High Priest Set immediately" a palace guard said, interrupting the duo from their discussion.

"Of course sir. Forgive me Mana, we shall perhaps talk tomorrow instead," she told the younger girl before turning back to the guard, "Please, lead me to Master Set" she said and aloud herself to be led through the palace. They went through passage after passage until she was finally ushered through the door to where Set was.

"Master Set, here is the servant you requested" the guard said, bowing to the Priest's back that faced him.

"Leave us" Set ordered, his tone sharp and cold as everyone around them left the room. After a few moments of silence passed she became worried for he did not speak nor did he turn to her.

"Master Set, what is wrong?" she asked tentatively, unsure of what was going on.

"Kisara has been taken prisoner by the Outlanders" he sighed, finally turning to face her, sorrow in his eyes.

"Master Set, my deepest sympathy. Is there any way I can help you?" she asked, grasping his left hand comfortingly as she too, felt the loss.

"That is why I asked you here, you see, I was hoping you could look after Methos for me until Kisara is found" he replied, bringing her across the room to where the reed crib lay holding his son.

"I'll take great care of him Master Set, until your beloved is able to again" she vowed, taking the child into her arms and leaving Set alone to his thoughts.

2996 BC…

Six months had past since Kisara had been taken and Kahara was tired of seeing Set fall apart and so, decided to take action.

"Mana, I was wondering if you could watch Methos for a moon's cycle? There's an errand I need to run for Master Set that's going to take a bit of time" Kahara asked while the younger girl helped her pick reeds for parchment.

I don't know Kahara, I'm not as good with kids as you are" Mana replied skeptically, knowing Set asked no such thing of her.

"Mistress Isis will help you; it's only for a cycle, I'll be back before you miss me" she pleaded, giving Mana the 'cute eyes' she couldn't say no to. With one favour accomplished, , she moved on to her second one.

"Please Jono, it's only for a cycle and Master Set asked me to run this errand for him" she begged, fully intent on using her one advantage.

"Oh no, not the eyes, anything but that! Fine, I'll lend you a horse and weaponry" he agreed, conceding defeat against her superior skills. "Just one thing before you take off, you told the Prince of Set's errand right?" Jono asked as Kahara mounted the horse packed supplies, along with her bag.

"Jono I'm offended, I'm his servant; of course I told him. See you in a cycle!" she called over her shoulder as she left through the gates.

Next Day…

"Kahara, I was wondering if…oh, it's you Mana. Where is she?" Set asked as he walked into the room his son and Kahara were normally in first thing.

"You sent her on an errand that would take a cycle, remember?" Mana replied, although she had a feeling her suspicions would be confirmed.

"I need nothing from outside the city that would take a cycle to do. The only thing out there,… is Kisara" he said as it dawned on him that the Outlanders had been spotted recently on the way to the city. "Guard, fetch the Prince! It's urgent!" he ordered and the man took off running to the Royal Chamber.

Meanwhile…

Kahara pushed the steed Jono had lent her to its limits, trying to reach the Outlanders' camp to rescue Kisara before nightfall the next day. By now she knew Set, Mana and Jono would have realized what she was up to; she couldn't risk the Prince finding out, nor the guards following her.

"I'm in so much trouble when I get back"

Palace…

"Set, I know you're upset but please try to be calm. This stress isn't good for you" Mana said as the Priest paced back and forth in front of her and Methos; the Prince having already left after being informed about his servant.

"Mana, now both of them are out there. Kisara, my wife and Kahara, my favourite girl are both in Outlander territory. How else am I supposed to feel?" he growled at her, not letting up on his pacing.

"Honored, or one. Kahara's risking herself to bring back to you the one who makes you happy Set. If that's not a devoted friend, I don't know what is" Mana told him and he stopped in order to consider her words.

Desert…

Kahara reached the Outlanders' camp the next night and walked her horse closer to their fires but kept as close to the shadows as she could. Loosely tying her stead, she crept closer, looking for any sign of her friend and Set's beloved. Spotting her tied to a pole on the outskirts of the camp; smiling, she patiently waited for the opportune moment. The moment presented itself in the dead of night once the fires were doused and the men were in a drunken sleep. Creeping along the dunes, she slowly drew a knife from her boot and began to cut through Kisara's ties, awakening her in the process.

"Kahara, what…?" she started to say but was silenced as Kahara pointed to the horse and motioned for her to remain quiet. The two silently made their way over to the waiting horse but stopped when they heard a tent flap open. Lying low, they waited as the drunk relieved himself and soon went back inside. Motioning for Kisara to continue onwards, they'd just reached the horse when someone rounded from the other side of it to stop them.

"Now what do we have here?" he sneered as Kahara put herself between him and her friend.

"Listen to me Kisara. When I tell you, you jump on that horse and ride out of here" Kahara said as she looked over her shoulder, yet her eyes never left her opponent.

"What about you?" Kisara asked, she couldn't leave her behind with these people.

"Just do as I tell you. Now go!" she yelled and drew her sword in order to block the one the man in front of her had. Fending him off, her dagger slashed along his right cheek, giving her the opportunity to flee. Her legs pounded as she ran after Kisara, flipping onto the horse and leading it back home.

Palace 2 Days Later…

"Master Set, two people upon a horse are approaching the gate and one appears to be Milady Kisara" a guard reported, having just ran on Jono's order to fetch Set.

"Open the gates!" Jono ordered and the horse and riders passed through into the palace courtyard, both looking exhausted.

"Kisara, I though I'd never see you again" Set declared as he lifted his wife down into his arms, a smile gracing his features for the first time in months.

"Arrest the servant!" someone yelled and the couple watched as Kahara was dragged off the horse onto her knees and shackled.

"STOP!" a deafening order sounded and the crowed parted as the Pharaoh descended the palace steps, "Release her and be gone all of you" he continued and waited until even Set and Kisara had left before speaking again. Kahara knew that during her time away, the former Pharaoh had past on and his son, whom she served, had been named Pharaoh in his place.

"What you did Kahara would normally be punished by one cycle in the dungeon and several lashes. However, you did it out of honor, loyalty and devoted friendship and I am willing to wave formal punishment aside on one condition," he told her, lifting her downcast chin with his hand, "you must accompany me to my formal coronation celebration as my consort" he finished, he'd secretly been trying for months to find some way to court her but hadn't been able to – until now.

Domino, 2000…

The blinding flash receded as the three were expelled from the ancient past back into the present. Keri stood in silence as the new memories nestled into her mind while Yugi and Yami filtered through what they had learned.

"I think I need some air" she spoke, leaving the Item on the desk as she left the room. Silently, the duo followed her into the cool night air and gazed up to see what she was looking at. The sky was lit with a giant spectrum of colours as duel monsters flew into it and vanished. True, the spectrum and giant eye had been there all week but the monsters were new.

"It's time. The worlds have been thrown into chaos. We must save them" Keri said suddenly, turning to face the two.

"You're right, Dartz needs to be stopped" Yugi agreed and Yami nodded, this war was to en tonight.

"You'll need all three Dragon's to win the duel; go get Joey and Kaiba, I'll follow later" she told them as Yami took control of the shared body.

"Where are you going!?" he called as she ran in the opposite direction of him back inside the shop and emerging seconds later with her cousin's necklace.

"To find the answer!" she replied as she headed towards the museum she still had access to.

'I hope she knows what she's doing' Yugi thought through the link as they watched her go before heading off to find Joey and Kaiba so they could defeat Dartz.

Museum…

Keri watched as the Millennium Necklace showed her the way towards what she needed. True, Yami, Joey and Kaiba would be able to win the duel against Dartz but only she and Yami could truly defeat him. She grinned as she found the relic she needed, an Item almost as old as the one she currently held and a key part to Dartz's downfall. Removing it from its home in the storage room, she made her way to the duel site.

Elsewhere…

The three knights, Temius, Hermos, and Krydious, vanished as Dartz lost the duel to Yami, Joey and Kaiba but yet, his power and the souls stayed with him.

"You may've won the duel Pharaoh, but you will never defeat the Leviathan" he proclaimed, laughing evilly as the world's continued to collide.

"Don't count on it" a voice called through the darkness as Keri stepped forwards towards them.

"You foolish girl. Your brother had warned me of you, saying that your mother told him you housed great power. I placed a curse upon that mark of yours, hoping it would kill you one day, but since it failed, I shall feed you to the Leviathan first!" Dartz ranted, the eye moving within the sky in order to strike at her.

"I don't think so you psychotic bastard. Behold, the Millennium Flower, the Item of Life" she smirked, drawing the relic from its hiding place for them to see.

"A comb?" Joey remarked, Kaiba hitting him in the head for his stupidity.

"Yes Joey, a comb. Although not part of the original seven items, it was created to be every bit as powerful. The rose is made from pure blood crystal and it was fastened to the gold comb, for the one who owned it, was a woman" she explained, noticing the look in Yami's eyes since they both knew Dartz was about to be finished.

"Mind Crush!" he yelled and sent Dartz to the Shadow Realm for good.

'You can do it Keri, just trust yourself' she thought as she prayed for the Flower to work. "Light of Isis!" she called and the rose activated, sending a blood red beam of light directly into the Leviathan. The monsters disappeared as the Leviathan disintegrated into nothing.

"How'd you know…?" Kaiba began but trailed off as his hocus-pocus radar sounded in his head.

"What to do? I'm sorry Kaiba but you weren't there earlier and it'll take too long to explain now. Let's just say, there's still more to learn about the previous owner of this Item; much, much more" she replied, smiling up at Yami who was smiling back at her. Her story had only begun.


	4. Chapter Four: Mayday

Chapter Four: Mayday

Chapter Four: Mayday

"Yugi! Yami! I'm home!" Keri called as she ran into the back of the store where she now lived with them. Oddly enough, it seemed like no one was home. Crossing though the kitchen to the stairs, she voyaged up to her room and changed out of her uniform into more casual clothes. Running a brush though her hair and pinning it back with her Item, the Millennium Flower, she cursed slightly as the back doorbell rang. Trudging down the stairs, she swung the door open to reveal Kaiba standing there.

"Oh, it's you. If you're looking for Yugi, he's not here" she said, ready to close the door on him but he held it open.

"Going out?" he asked, nodding to her purple halter, jean capris and sandals she'd just changed into.

"You offering or did you come by for something else" she teased, clearly stating she had no where to be.

"I actually just came by to drop this off. A co-executive told me it involved some dig or something" he replied, handing her the small parcel he could've Fed-Exed.

"I'll make sure Yugi gets it" she said and turned to go back inside just as Kaiba turned back to her.

"By-the-way, I think you should go out" he told her and left her staring blankly after him. Walking back inside, she crossed into the kitchen and put the parcel on the counter, nearly walking through Yami as she turned back towards the stairs.

"Ra Almighty Yami, don't sneak up on people!" she yelled, moving past his spectral body and up the stairs, slamming her room door just as Yugi entered the kitchen.

"What's up with her?" the short teen asked, confused as to what was going on.

'I'm not sure. Is there somewhere you're going today Yugi? I noticed the calendar was marked' Yami commented, but the younger just shook his head.

"Maybe Keri marked it, Gramps is in India so it wasn't him" he replied and suddenly it dawned on Yami what today was.

'Yugi, would you mind if I talked to Keri for a bit, I think I know what's going on' he asked and his hikari nodded, giving Yami control of their shared body.

"Keri, may I come in?" she heard Yami ask through her door as she sat on her bed starring out the window.

"Yeah, it's open!" she yelled back and heard him enter, leaving the door ajar behind him.

"It was today, wasn't it? This is the day you wound up alone" he said, sitting down next to her, tears visible in her eyes.

"Every single person taken by the Seal had their soul returned but, because Valon used it outside of a duel…he killed them. How can I forgive him for all the pain he's caused? For the fact that, I haven't got an actual family? How…how can they be forgiven?" she asked, tears flowing from her eyes.

"You have a family Keri; Joey, Tea, Tristan, Gramps, Ishizu, Marik, Odion, Yugi…me. No matter what anyone says you have a family of friends and loved ones and nothing Valon does will change that" he told her, drying a few wayward tears that continued to fall from her hazel eyes. Violet eyes starred into hazel orbs that seemed depthless as they drew him in; a kiss not of comfort, but of forgotten love.

Next Day…

"Keri, wake up!" Yugi yelled as he tried to rouse the brunette from her slumber at two in the morning.

"Yugi, it's the middle of the night. Go back to bed" she muttered, her squinted eyes reading the clock for a millisecond before turning back over. She heard his feet pad away and she smiled as she returned to her dreamless state, unaware of his return.

'I really didn't want to do this' he thought, noticing that his other half looked slightly amused. A shriek resounded through the store as cold water drenched the upper half of Keri's body, jolting her awake.

"Yugi, it's two in the morning! What in Ra is wrong with you!?" she yelled, crossing to her desk where an over-sized sweater hung over the back of the chair and pulling it over her head.

"Uh, our trip to Greece for spring break? The plane leave at 4:30…any of this ringing a bell?" he asked, nervous as the taller yet younger girl stared him down for waking her up.

"Not really, but yeah. I'll be ready in a half-hour, you better pray the others are up too cause I'll leave 'em behind" she said and grumbled as Yugi left, falling back onto the part of her bed that wasn't wet.

"Exams are over and I finally get to sleep and then Yugi books an early morning flight. I'm too tired for this" she whined, getting back up and searching for the clothes she'd picked out earlier; a purple cross-top, jeans and of course, her Item.

Plane…

Yami watched as Yugi and their friends slept in their seats. Keri slept with her head facing Yugi's, who was almost leaning against her shoulder; Joey and Tristan somehow managed to spread their arms and legs out while beside each other, snoring rather loudly; and Tea and Serenity slept like normal people. His mind kept drifting back to the brunette next to him and he wondered what had compelled him the day before to kiss her. More importantly, why had it felt so right?

Meanwhile…Egypt, 2996

The palace was lit whit torches and oil lamps as people dressed in their finest linen ascended the steps and gathered to celebrate the Pharaoh's coronation. One such person was the Grecian servant Kahara, daughter of Micinea. Clothed in fine silk and gold, she felt completely out of place being the Pharaoh's consort for the event, for she knew only nobility could surpass this point.

"Ready?" the Pharaoh asked as he came up beside her, dressed in a silk tunic with a navy cape, gold crown and jewelry and his Millennium Puzzle.

"I doubt it; are you absolutely certain this is a good idea? I am but a servant in a pretty dress" she replied, highly nervous about this ordeal and if it would discredit him.

"Do you think the people know that? For the four years you've been in Egypt, you've set foot outside the palace only once; that was a cycle ago and no one saw you" he remarked, proving that no one outside of the palace gates knew she was a servant.

"Announcing Ra on Earth, our new beloved Pharaoh and his consort" Set declared and the room became silent as he entered, a misplaced Kahara behind him. The festivities resumed as he sat upon the throne, Kahara sitting upon a throng of cushions next to him.

At some point of that night, Set and Kisara slipped off after thanking her again, saying that they needed to rescue Anzu from Methos. Shortly after, many of the guests departed for the night until mostly those living in the palace were left.

"Would you care to dance Kahara?" Pharaoh asked as he leaned slightly over the armrest so she could hear him.

"If it would please my Pharaoh to do so, than I shall" she replied, allowing him to lead her to the level ground before beginning a customary Egyptian dance. Thankfully, Mana had taught her during her first year since Set had just started to peruse her back then. During the third dance, the Pharaoh halted her movement and drew something from his tunic and held it for her to see.

"Kahara, I realize that you are my consort for tonight alone. However, I'd like you to be my permanent consort until it is decreed that I must wed and at that time, make you forever my own," Pharaoh stated as he fastened the comb into her plaited hair, "This is the Millennium Flower; made of pure blood crystal, it is the Item of Life and is every bit as powerful as the others. I had it made in your absence and it shows everyone that you belong to me" he continued, turning her back around to face him, missing the sadness in her eyes as he beamed at her.

2000 AD…

Keri awoke with a start as the plane jerked around violently. The others had apparently woken up before her since their seatbelts were already on. Cursing as her head whacked off of the ceiling, she felt someone trying to ground her so she could put her belt on and avoid any more injury. Screams echoed throughout as the plane went down in the early morning light, distress calls being the last thing she heard.

India…

"Keri, Keri! Damn it, wake up!" someone yelled; putting pressure upon her torso as they continued to try and forcefully move it. Her eyes opened as she felt something trying to push its way out of her throat, causing her to cough violently and turn onto her side. Finally, with her throat raw and her abs sore, she lid back onto her back and stared up aimlessly into a pair of worried violet eyes.

"Finally, you're awake. You had us worried when we found you unconscious in the shallow water" Yami said, his voice floating throughout her head as she fought to keep her eyes open.

"I'm sorry; what happened?" she asked, she'd been coming out of sleep and put into shock when the plane went down.

"The plane crashed into the river; the pilot says we're somewhere in India" he replied, sighing as he sat beside her, arm perched on his knee.

"Where are the others?" she continued, the blackness closing in around her mind.

"They left together to gather some supplies while we wait for rescue. However, they should've been back by now" he remarked, wondering what was taking them so long to come back.

"Yami I'm so tired, but why?" she asked, eyes clouding over as the darkness crept closer and closer inside her mind.

"You've likely suffered a concussion, you should stay alert" he told her, as Yugi explained to him what her tiredness most likely meant, just as the others arrived back.

"Hey, guess who's back!" Joey yelled as the four came into the clearing together.

"She's still not up?" Serenity asked, nodding over to the older girl.

"What? Oh no" Yami said as he noticed that Keri had again fallen into unconsciousness.

Egypt, 2993…

Kahara felt something was terribly wrong as she waited for the Pharaoh and the Priests to return. She ran through the trembling palace corridors, the cold feeling in the pit of her stomach as she did until she reached the gate, where her gaze fell upon chaos. The three Gods of Egypt, Ra, Slifer and Obelisk, were fighting what seemed to be an ever expanding wave of darkness. She felt a sharp pang in her heart as a mighty blue dragon roared into the sky and knew she'd just lost the first of many dear to her to the darkness.

India, 2000 AD…

Keri awoke with a start, frightening Yami who'd been carrying her on his back, and causing them both to land on their butts.

"And I thought that only happened to Joey" Tristan remarked as the duo rubbed their sore backsides.

"Watch it" Joey warned getting steamed up from Tristan's taunts.

"I'm glade to see you're awake," Yami commented as they both stood back up, "Here, you dropped this" he continued, handing her, her Item which had fallen out when they'd fallen.

Flashback, Egypt 2995…

"Kahara, here, you dropped the new cobalt crystal inset to your Item. It's supposed to sit in the middle of the rose" Pharaoh said as he handed her the cobalt crystal ball that held the image of the Eye inside it that reflected in the moonlight.

End Flashback…

"Cobalt crystal inset" Keri murmured to herself, blindly following the others through the jungle.

"Guys, over here!" Tristan called running over to something along with the others, Keri too deep in thought to notice.

"Give him some water guys" Tea ordered as Keri finally joined them, Yami sending her a worried look.

'Man is it just me or has she really been out of it lately?' Yugi asked as his spectral form stood next to Yami and watched as Keri calmly sat on a rock.

'I'm certain having the Item is bringing back pieces of her old life. She knows things about my forgotten past Yugi, she's just trying to sort through it all' he replied in time, for the man they'd found was prepared to talk.

"My name is Dr. Alex Brisbane and on mine and Dr. Moto's latest expedition he simply vanished without a trace" Brisbane explained after Serenity asked what'd happened to him.

"Did you say that my Grandpa is missing?" Yugi exclaimed, having taken back control of the shared body.

"You must be Dr. Moto's grandson Yugi. If you come with me, I can show you where I last saw him" Brisbane announced, getting to his feet suddenly.

'Keri, are you alright? You seem a bit distracted' Yami asked her, temporarily forming a link with her as they followed Brisbane; Keri at the back.

'Cobalt crystal inset; the piece is missing from my Item. I'd ask if you knew where it was, but I know you don't' she replied, confusing Yami who didn't know about the Item's past.

"We believe this to be the legendary Pyramid of Alexander. It was inside while searching the pyramid that Dr. Moto vanished" Brisbane announced as he led them through the massive trap-filled structure.

'I wonder if Yami has a pyramid just for him' Keri thought as they followed Brisbane into a room with a giant map on the floor. Joey being the ignorant one, ran onto it and vanished into it.

"I think I'll stay here and wait for you guys. I know Joey'll be fine" Serenity said, as Yugi, Tristan and Tea prepared to go after the blond.

"I'll stay with her for Joey's sanity" Keri replied to their questioning looks and watched as they disappeared.


	5. Chapter Five: Capsule Nightmare

Chapter Five: Capsule Nightmare

Two hours past as Keri and Serenity waited for Yugi, Joey, Tea and Tristan to return when it finally dawned on her. It was a giant Capsule Monsters board game enhanced by Shadow magic. 'I know this game, but how?' she thought as she looked over the floor surface, blinking as she saw tiny dots moving through the forest.

"Do you think something happened to them?" Serenity asked, staring at the board as though it would bring Joey back faster.

"They're with Yugi, you can't get much safer than that" she replied, trying to put the red-head's worry at ease.

"You're right; my brother may not always think with his head, but Yugi brings out the best in him. They'll be along in no time" Serenity agreed and they grinned over the knowledge of Joey's antics.

"Actually, I'm afraid that neither of you will see young Mr. Wheeler or your friends ever again. In this Shadow Game, only I make it out alive; now come along, I've plans for you both" Brisbane laughed, hauling Serenity to her feet as Keri stared him down defiantly.

"Let her go" she growled and elbowed Brisbane in the face, causing his grip to loosen. Pulling Serenity free from him, they ran to the edge of the game; Keri scanned for the dots, finding them near the mountain range.

"Ren, I'm going to throw you as close as I can to where the others are. Touch the first rock you see when you get inside" she instructed, looking back over her shoulder for Brisbane.

"What about you? I can't leave you here" she argued, but Keri shook her head as Brisbane slowly stood up.

"I'll follow" she stated and launched Serenity into the game, praying she got her as close to the others as possible.

"Wench, you'll pay for this endearment" Brisbane threatened as he slowly walked towards her, although she was already climbing back up the stairs as he did so.

"Put it on my tab" she spat, running down the steps she'd climbed and throwing herself into the game.

Game…

Serenity looked around as she came to, the gold capsule launcher on her left arm. "Keri told me to touch a rock, I wonder why?' she thought, standing up inside the mountain range. Lost in thought, she ran into an egg-shaped rock, touching it with her hands and stubbing her foot. It cracked open before her and she stared wide-eyed in amazement.

"St. Joan?" she half-asked to herself as the female soldier stood before her, vanishing into a capsule as Serenity heard her name.

"Serenity, what are you doing here? I thought you and Keri wanted to stay behind" Joey stated as the five spotted the red-head in their path.

"We have to hurry and find her; that Dr. Brisbane tried to take us with him. Keri stood up to him and literally threw me to where you guys were and said that she'd follow but I haven't seen her" she explained, remembering the doctor's face as she fell into the game.

"You aren't hurt are you?" Tristan asked and she nodded, it wasn't her who Brisbane was mad at.

"I'm sure Keri's fine, anyone who can stand Kaiba can survive anything" Tea remarked, although inside she was worried also.

'Keri, I hope you're alright' Yami prayed silently, fearing that the crash injuries would give this game an advantage over her.

Meanwhile, Japan…

Seto Kaiba sat at his desk in his KC tower watching the morning news. Well, half-listening to it would be more accurate until a new report broke in.

"_We've just confirmed reports of a passenger plane heading for Greece early yesterday morning having gone down in Western India. Investigators are tracking the plane from a 500ft. radius of where the last transmission was sent from. There's no word yet of survivors and until any are located, they've been assumed missing at this time"_ the news anchor said before handing over the broadcast to the newsroom.

This single report caught Kaiba's immediate attention; he knew Yugi and his friends, including Keri, were on that flight. He didn't care about Joey, Tea, Tristan or Serenity, but Yugi and he had a score to settle and Keri was starting to work her way under his skin somehow.

"Roland, I want that plane in India and it's survivors found" he ordered through his phone, hanging up before any questions could be asked.

'For some strange reason, I need to know that the stray is safe' he thought, folding his hands and leaning his shin on them as he waited.

Game…

Keri awoke with a splitting headache to the sounds of people conversing around her.

"Hey you, how are you feeling?" Tea asked, noticing the girl next to her was awake.

"I'll be better once I wring Dr. English's neck" she replied bitterly, ears perking up as she thought she heard something move.

"Uh guys, were those flowers here before?" Serenity asked, pointing to the red blossoms in front of them.

"I don't like this" Joey remarked, eerie things were going on and it was creeping him out.

"Those aren't flowers Joey, they're wolves!" Keri exclaimed as the black dogs surrounded them on all sides.

"Load capsules, now fire!" Yami ordered, "Come forth, Celtic Guardian!"

"It's show time Baby Dragon!" "Go for it Thunder Kid!" Joey and Tristan cried, launching their own monsters to fight.

"Serenity, Tea; I want you to use my monster to get to safety, we'll follow when we can" Keri instructed, launching her Firebird for them to escape on.

"You'll have nothing to defend yourself with" Tea argued but Keri ignored her and whispered in the bird's ear her orders.

"Tsukuyomi, come forth!" she yelled as the Firebird took the other two away the other two to safety away from them.

"This isn't working guys" Tristan said as the wolves attacked their monsters, causing them incredible pain.

"Get back, get back I say" Gramps yelled as he waved a stick of fire around himself to fend them off but they jumped onto him.

"Grandpa!" Keri cried and she ran over to him, a long piece of wood in her hands that she used to beat the wolves off him.

"Keri, behind you!" Yami warned as a wolf sank its teeth into her Tsukuyomi. Searing pain ripped through her shoulder as she cringed and called her monster back before she suffered any more injury.

"All we need to do is blind them long enough to escape. Celtic Guardian throw your sword!" Yami ordered and the monster did as told, "Now Tristan, aim for the sword!" he continued and the older teen nodded.

"Thunder Kid!" he called and the lizard shot it's lighting at the sword.

"Everybody, now run!" Yami yelled as the wolves were blinded by the bright light.

Later…

"I think I prefer to do my running when my life isn't in danger" Keri remarked as the five stopped to regain their breath.

"Speaking of danger, where's Serenity and Tea?" Joey asked, wondering where is sister had gone off to.

"Oh yeah, hang on" she replied and whistled loudly enough to pierce through the dense forest. Minutes later, Firebird appeared with Serenity and Tea on her back as she flew through the trees.

"Little Miss. Heroine here sent us away" Tea huffed as she and Serenity got down and Firebird returned to Keri.

"You've got a pixie for a monster Tea and Serenity isn't all too great with either Capsule Monsters or Duel Monsters. She's only dueled once Tea and you pick your monsters based on a cute factor; I saved your life but obviously you wanted someone else to protect your hide. Next time Tea, you're on your own" she argued, putting her capsules away before heading in an opposite direction than the six standing before her.

"Keri, you can't win this alone!" Yami called, taking off after her as the ground shook beneath them. From the water arose a Giant Turtle's head who's eyes stared straight at them.

"Uh Yugi, what's going on?" Tea asked as they caught up with him, Keri a few feet ahead of them.

"It's an Island Turtle, they're supposed to be very friendly creatures" he replied as the turtle started to dive underwater.

"I don't think he got the memo! Abandon ship!" Joey cried, running over the edge and jumping in, the others following. As they surfaced, they saw Keri ahead of them at the door of a temple.

"Is she ever fast" Gramps remarked as they made their way over, wondering why she wasn't already inside.

"And you're still here because?" Tea asked, leering at the shorter girl.

"So I can slam the door in your face" Keri spat back; by now the guys were totally confused over why they were fighting.

"Uh, I hate to interrupt, but why are you both fighting?" Joey yelled, he'd never understand girls, especially those two.

"Little Miss. Danger wanted to be a cheerleader and get herself injured" Keri remarked, jabbing her finger in Tea's direction.

"Yeah well, least I'm not a thief. I know when to quit, unlike the slut over there" Tea implied and everyone stopped moving; she'd just taken a minor fight to a whole new level of nasty.

"Tea, I can't believe you'd say such a thing!" Tristan cried; in all the time they'd known each other, he'd never heard her say anything rude before.

"Are you okay Keri?" Serenity asked the girl next to her, her hazel eyes shadowed by her hair.

"Tea, why are you acting this way? Can't you see you've hurt her feelings?" Yami shouted; he knew of his hikari's feelings for Tea, but those were feelings he didn't share.

"She doesn't care. She doesn't care…because she's isn't Tea!" Keri screamed, tears in her eyes despite the fact that she knew it wasn't Tea who'd hurt her. The counterfeit Tea laughed as she unraveled into her true form of the Puppet Master.

"Amazing, the one who's known you all for the least amount of time, is the one who knew your dear Tea was a fake. We could use a mortal of your talents around here" Puppet Master gloated, he loved the fine art of trickery and illusion mixed with intellectual genius.

"I'll pass you freak. Launch Capsule, I summon Tsukuyomi" Keri declined and began a face off with the red menace.

"I think it's best if we get inside" Gramps remarked, there wasn't a lot of room in the archway of the building for all of them plus a fight.

"She can't fight him alone" Joey argued as they went inside only to be faced with Lajin, the Genie of the Lamp.

"I'll take care of him. Launch capsule, come forth Celtic Guardian!" Yami declared, ignoring Joey and Tristan's protests. Suddenly, water flooded in from outside, turning into ice as it covered Gramps and Serenity before spawning another monster. Simultaneously, Joey and Tristan called forth Baby Dragon and Thunder Kid to combat Jack Frost's evil cousin.

"Great, we've got ice in the front, fire in the rear and an evil puppeteer at our doorstep" Tristan complained as they dodged the flying ice crystals.

"Fire and ice; each of these monster's strength is the other one's weakness. Celtic Guardian attack!" Yami ordered as Joey and Tristan ordered their monsters to attack as well, "Now, pull back" he continued and their monsters moved, allowing their opponents to destroy each other.

Meanwhile…

Keri cringed as the Puppet Master pupated her Tsukuyomi's arms backwards, causing her own to do the same.

"You mortals are too easy to control, I'm going to use you to destroy your friends" he cheered, delighted in his masterful plan of chaos.

"This is not good" Joey stated as Keri and her Tsukuyomi were forcefully maneuvered inside with the Puppet Master in control of their functions.

"Don't stand there; run!" she ordered as Tsukuyomi went to attack their monsters while her fingers were maneuvered to grip Yami's neck.

"How does it feel mortal's knowing you'll die by your friends hands?" Puppet Master asked, a look of malicious glee in his eyes as he watched them suffer.

'I don't want to do this, I care for Yami, I don't want him to die' Keri thought, tears streaming down her eyes as she fought against the Puppet Master's control.

'She's trying to fight against him, she cares enough to endanger herself' Yugi revealed to Yami as he watched from inside their shared minds.

'There must be someway we can help her, but how?' Yami thought, determined to help the reincarnation of the girl who'd risked her like for Kaiba's happiness.

'Think good memories' Keri thought, trying to conjure joyful memories about Yami in order to negate Puppet Master's evil.

'Yami, do you care for Keri?' Yugi asked suddenly, appearing next to him in his spectral form.

'Yugi, you know nothing will come of this if I do. It'll only end in tragedy' he countered, as a 5,000 year old spirit, he could never live outside Yugi's body.

'I know nothing will come of admitting this to him, but if I can save him it's worth the heartache' Keri thought as a sudden realization dawned on her.

True, she'd only known him for two months, but her past self had seemed to suffer the same fate she now would. History was forever doomed to repeat itself, no matter how many years had passed.

'Say it, worry about the consequences tomorrow when you're alive' Yugi argued, trying to push Yami into doing the right thing.

"Yami, I care about you" Keri whispered so softly, he almost didn't hear her, "That's why you can't force me to kill him!" she yelled and the strings attached to her were destroyed along with those controlling Tsukuyomi.

"Dude, remind me never to make her angry" Tristan said as fire burned in her hazel eyes as she ordered to attack Tsukuyomi the Puppet Master.

"Keri, I…um…" Yami started but stopped when they all saw Tea appear along with a giant stone slab with hieroglyphs on it.

"Tea, are you alright?" Yugi asked as they ran over to her confused form.

"I guess so, I mean right after Keri saved Serenity and I, I remember going off to find something to eat and then I was here" she replied, not really sure about what happened.

"Guys, what's it say?" Joey asked, referring to the stone slab only a few could read.

"Only that we have to get to the Fortress of Fear and open the crypt inside before sunset" Keri replied, paraphrasing the actual text so that Joey and Tristan would understand.

"Fortress of Fear eh? That must be this building here, but how we gonna get to it before sunset, it looks pretty far if you ask me" Joey complained as they looked at the map they had come across earlier before Keri and Serenity joined them.

"We didn't ask you" Tristan quipped, annoying his best friend.

"We walk under the water and back on top of land" Serenity replied, holding open a trap door she'd stumbled upon – literally.

"Lets hurry, we don't have much time until sunset" Gramps remarked and they made their way down through the tunnel, reemerging near the Fortress.


	6. Chapter Six: Sorrow

Chapter Six: Sorrow

"Anybody else a little creeped out?" Joey asked as they looked around, rock piles everywhere.

"What was that?" Serenity asked as she heard a distant noise.

"A ghost!" Joey screamed as a flock of crows blind-sighted him as they flew off.

"You're afraid of rocks and birds" Tea stated, wondering why she was friends with him some days.

"Hey, I had a bad experience with birds" he argued, recalling the giant flying chickens he'd been attacked by earlier on.

"You two lovebirds can argue later, we've got company!" Tristan yelled as corpses arose from the ground, their skeletal remains numerous in number.

"Launch capsule, Celtic Guardian!"

"Baby Dragon!"

"Thunder Kid!"

"Summon Skull!"

"St. Joan!"

"Tsukuyomi!"

Yami, Joey, Tristan, Gramps, Serenity and Keri called, releasing their monsters while Tea stuck with Serenity for protection.

"There's too many of them, we need to release more monsters!" Yami shouted, just as Joey flipped over a corpse and released the Flamed Swordsman.

"Keri beneath you!" Tea yelled as a skeletal hand rose up and clenched itself around the younger girl's ankle.

"Joey, do something!" Serenity told her brother as St. Joan protected her and Tea.

"Kinda busy at the moment!" he called back, both his monsters taking a beating from the corpses.

"Help me!" Keri cried as the hand began to pull her underground, Tsukuyomi preventing anymore from dog piling her.

"Keri!" Yami called, running towards her and tackling her out of the skeleton's grip; their hands releasing two more monsters who's capsules were side-by-side.

"It's Korebo" Yami stated as they got up from the ground.

"Element Valkyrie" Keri awed, temporarily forgetting who saved her again.

"Now we have two more monsters to kick some kister" Gramps cheered as the two went to work, helping to destroy the last of the corpses.

"Let's go, we haven't got much time" Keri stated, running towards and up the stairs that led to the fortress as fast as she could.

"Slow down would ya!" Tristan called from behind her as the other six ran in a group.

'I can't; I knew the price of saving Yami but I didn't know it would hurt so much' she thought and picked up her pace until she reached the landing where she aloud herself to breathe.

"Have you…ever…thought about…competing…in a…triathlon?" Joey asked as the six crumpled at the top of the fortress landing.

'Too busy saving the world' she thought, making her way towards the entrance but was stopped by a stone wall rising up from the ground.

"This just isn't fair" Tea said as the sky began to turn different colours, indicating that the sun would set soon.

"How are we supposed to get inside?" Serenity asked; no door or sign of visible entry present.

"The seven of us can easily push that wall down" Joey replied and Keri moved to watch them try.

"On three; ready and three" Tristan said and she waited, the only thing that happened was Gramps putting his back out.

"Why didn't you help us?" Joey yelled, angry that Keri had just stood and watched.

"Maybe because I already know how to get inside. There are four statues, each with a glass orb attached to it. If you mimic the statues, the orbs will send a signal saying that you've solved the puzzle and to let whomever remains inside" she explained, indicating to the orbs for them to see.

'That's strange; it's almost as though Keri's already done this before' Yugi suggested, Yami nodding in agreement of his Hikari's suspicions.

"We're not continuing any further until you explain yourself. How can you possibly know the inner workings of this game Keri?" he asked, everyone's attention solely focused on her.

"I created it" she replied and they looked at her in shocked confusion; unsure if they'd heard her correctly.

"But how? This game's almost as old as duel monsters" Gramps remarked, Alexander lived 400 years after Yami had.

"I'm not sure how; I just know. Not all of us are blessed with 5,000 years of life, some of us had to wait to be reborn so that we'd all be together" she snapped at them, the voices that had haunted her before had returned shortly after her fight with the Puppet Master and her thoughts were no longer straight.

"Hey! That was uncalled for! What's wrong with ya?" Joey yelled, defending his best friend from her words.

"It's alright Joey, I understand what's going on and I'll deal with it. But first, let's get inside before time runs out" Yami interjected and they nodded, all but he and Keri going to mimic the statues; Serenity staying close to Joey.

The gate rose to grant them passage once all four orbs recognized the code and sent it through. The two set off running up the stairs and inside the fortress, neither speaking to the other. Just as they reached the crypt, the floor swallowed the up and they fell into a giant pit and blacked out for a few minutes.

"Now how do we get out?" Yami rhetoricalized, not expecting his companion to answer in her current state. Suddenly, one of Yami's capsules flashed as the wall started to close in on them; he launched and released the Korebo inside.

"There's a capsule above, he knows it'll help" Keri revealed, pointing above them on a ledge.

"What about you? I can't leave you down here" he argued and she pointed to another capsule opposite the one Korebo flew around. Carefully, they waited until the wall was close enough to push off of before running in synchronization and leaping upwards. They caught the ledges but Yami's grip loosened and he almost fell, but Korebo gave him a push and he touched the capsule; Keri wasn't so lucky.

"Shit" she cursed as she swung her feet onto the opposing ledge just as the wall closed in. The capsule was out of her reach and the wall was starting to progress upwards; but now it was more lethal with spikes.

'Ra, I can't launch Firebird for help. Here goes nothing' she thought and flipped her entire body upside-down onto the ledge and pressed her feet against the wall. Lifting her right hand, she touched the capsule before loosing her balance.

"Uh Keri, you can open your eyes now" someone told her and she opened her hazel eyes only to face intense violet ones. For a moment, she felt a cold feeling wash over her; a sense of loss. Then, the sight of her friends in danger replaced that feeling.

"Magical Cross-fire!" Yami and Keri ordered; his Dark Magician and her Magician's Valkyria creating a cross road that destroyed the statutes that had come to life in their absence.

"Oh Ra, the crypt!" Keri cried as the sky's hues began to darken as their Magician's set them down and became capsules. Pushing their limits the duo ran inside and pushed the heavy lid to the crypt open just in time.

"Hey guys, are there supposed to be hieroglyphs on that?" Tea asked as they joined them inside the fortress as a gold armor plate and a gold belt with five purple cats eye spheres, one at the fasten and four hanging down, appeared from the crypt.

"Who cares about that, I wanna know what it says" Joey said, they never could go anywhere without anything happening; why break tradition.

"_Champions in gold five tests you must face. Only then shall the power be given to the true warrior of light_" Keri translated and suddenly gasped as the belt locked itself around her waist as the armor plate fastened itself to Yami.

'I don't want to be a champion, I want to go home' she thought, trying to pry the belt off of her without any luck.

"Keri you're going to hurt yourself doing that" Tristan remarked as they watched her fight with it in vain.

"Look you guys, it's a doorway" Serenity interjected, pointing to the lit passageway out.

"Well then, lets get going" Gramps suggested and they walked through, Keri begrudgingly behind them.

"Great a desert and we've no water" she muttered bitterly, she knew from experience they wouldn't last too long without it.

'What in the world is wrong with her? It's like someone else has taken over her personality or something' Yugi remarked as the teens disembarked across the barren land.

'Memories of her former life plague her Yugi. If you listen closely, you can almost hear the whispers of voices around her and that's what causing this twist in persona' Yami replied, glancing back at Keri, her eyes constantly moving side to side.

'I'm afraid that's not all of it; I'm pretty sure there's more written on the crypt than she translated' Yugi countered, remembering that her translation was shorter than the actual text.

'You're right, I can decipher the rest if you'll just give me a moment to picture it. _Champions in gold five tests you must face. Only then shall the power be given to the warrior of light. A word of caution to the cat's eye barer- your five tests alone you must face for they are of a secret place. Sorrow my dear, will become your worst fear_' Yami interpreted, wondering what was possibly hurting Keri's soul. No, her heart.

'Her heart is aching because she loves someone she can never be with. My mistress cannot stop herself from loving him although logic dictates they will never be' Valkyria supplied spontaneously, fading as quickly as she appeared.

"Look, it's a village of some kind" Tea said, spotting white tents just up ahead of them.

"Who in da world would live in a desert?" Joey asked, forgetting that Keri was behind him.

"Moron, where do you think I was born" she growled, knocking the back of his blond head with her fist.

"We've been waiting for you. The Elder wishes to see you" a child said as she approached them, a pentagram shaped necklace around her neck.

'Never a good thing if the Village Elder summons you' Keri thought, remembering once that the Elder had summoned her after Valon had killed her parents to question her.

As they walked towards the edge of the village, Tea noticed that her spiky haired companion had a troubled expression and every so often, kept glancing over at the Egyptian teen near him. She had a feeling the Pharaoh was slowly becoming attached to Keri and in her heart she knew, Keri would feel the same. In fact, she'd bet her deck that she already did.

"The Elder wants you to have this" the girl said, breaking Tea from her thoughts as Yami was handed a piece of parchment.

"Translation?" Joey asked as he tried to read the hieroglyphs; rolling her eyes, Keri plucked it from his fingers.

"_The first of five tests is about to begin, you must destroy the voice that whispers in the wind. The sands of time the voice control, vanquish the evil and remember to duck and roll_" she read, quickly glancing at the second half meant foe her alone. '_Shadows inside the hourglass, turn back each minute passed. Face the night of pain, before onyx sand buries you this day_'

"Ha ha ha, turn back Pharaoh" a cold bitter voice laughed as wind blew throughout the tent.

"That must be the voice that whispers in the wind. Lets go" Yami said and they ran outside; but a small hand stopped Keri from following.

"This necklace will help you both" she said and hooked in under Keri's long hair, letting her depart into a sandstorm.

"Guys where are you?" Serenity called out as they dodged attacks from sand worms and each other.

"Everyone hold your fire! Follow the sounds of someone's voice and stay together!" Yami ordered, he could barely see his hands, never mind the others.

"But who's voice do we go to?" Tristan asked as the wind whipped around them, blowing sand everywhere.

"Keri's, she can sing so her voice is strong enough to carry over the storm!" Serenity called, remembering that during the time they'd spent outside the game, that they'd been idly entertaining themselves.

"Keri do you think you can do it?" Joey yelled over the tornado of wind.

"_It's true, we're all a little insane…_"

1997…

"Valon, son, we don't want you hanging out with those bikers any longer" Mr. Tsunki said as he, his wife and daughter brought forth their concerns to him.

"_But it's so clear, now that I'm unchained…_"

"You and what army pops? I can do whatever I want" Valon replied uncaring of his parent's rules.

"_Fear is only in our minds, taking over all the time…_"

"Brother please, I miss having you around to talk to" she pleaded, trying to get through to him that these bikers weren't good for him.

"_Fear is only in our minds, but it's taking over all the time…_"

"I'm sick of you lot trying to control me life. If you must know what I've been up to, just watch the news each night Mum" he laughed, activating his duel system and pulling a card from his deck.

"_You poor sweet innocent thing, dry your eyes and testify…_"

"Keri, run to the neighbors, go now! Mr. Tsunki yelled and she ran, but she a brilliant green flash stopped her from going any further.

"_You know you live to break me, don't deny sweet sacrifice…_"

"Mum, Dad!" she called and ran back into the room, her brother gone.

"_One day I'm gonna find your name…_"

Screaming, she laid paralyzed until she and her parents were discovered the next day.

2000…

"_Fear is only in our minds, it's taking over all the time. Dry your eyes and testify_" she sang, the others around her meaning only Yami was left alone in the storm.

"This is crazy. How's he supposed to fight if nobody can see?" Tea complained as they tried to spot their spiky haired friend through the blowing sand.

"By flying above the storm! Storm cells expand hundreds of feet in the air, yet above the cells are calm skies!" Keri explained, pointing to the swirling vortex on the land that was attached to a giant super cell of cumulus clouds.

"That's all well and good, but I don't think we'll be able to sprout wings and fly anytime soon" Tristan retorted, doubting that this new information would be any help at all.

"What about Yugi's weird armor? Do you think maybe it could help?" Serenity asked, but Joey and Tristan shook their heads doubtfully; it was just armor after all.

"Hey wait, where's Keri go?" Gramps asked as he noticed only four teens instead of five.

"She probably went after the Pharaoh or something. She hasn't really been herself lately" Tea replied, wondering what was going on with the younger girl.

"When has she ever been herself? I'm not even sure why we hang out with her" Joey remarked and winced as Tea belted him one.

"Joey! She's our friend, why are you being so mean?" Serenity chastised her brother; he could be so dense some days.

Besides both Yugi and the Pharaoh trust her, what more proof do you need" Gramps interjected, his grandson and his dueling partner had excellent judgement.

Meanwhile…

Keri tried to cover the majority of her face as she tried to find Yami in the storm. She suddenly tripped over something and fell into the sand. Turning, she discovered that it was Yami that she had tripped and fallen over, lying face down in the sand. Swiftly, she rolled him onto his back and pressed her ear to his chest, making sure that he was still breathing.

"You can wake up anytime now" she muttered after assessing that he appeared to be fine, just unconscious for some reason.

"Turn back servant, turn back. The Pharaoh is already lost to the darkness" the voice taunted, laughing as it faded from her ears.

"Liar! You promised me! You're just as bad as them!" she screamed, pounding her fist onto his chest violently in rage. Even when someone griped her wrists to stop her, she blindly fought them out of anger.

"Keri stop! Bruising me isn't going to help us any. As soon as this test is over, I want you to tell me what's going on but first, we need to beat the voice that whispers in the wind" Yami told her, worried at the sight of the pain etched into her eyes.

"If the voice is a monster, they'll likely be located at the eye of the storm. However, walking inside won't be easy" she said, avoiding his piercing violet eyes as she tried to help.

"Except we aren't walking. Someone spoke to me while you were busy trying to beat me up and told me a secret to the armor" he replied, getting up while pulling her with him, "Come forth Dark Magician! Now, Duel Armor!" he called and she watched in amazement as Yami and the Dark Magician fused together, the Magician's armor and weapon adorning Yami so that he looked like a valiant knight about to ride into battle. Again she felt the cold feeling of loss sweep over her as she gazed at him in this new form.

'I wonder if I could do that, would I look more beautiful in his eyes?' she thought, momentarily forgetting that they could never be.

'Keri your beauty has always been the same; he sees you for who you are. As to the Pharaoh's ability to use Duel Armor, yours is called Duel Souls' Dark Magician's voice called out to her through the darkness, letting her go back into the light.

"Ready?" Yami asked and she grinned and called forth Magician's Valkyria.

"Activate Duel Souls!" she ordered and all five cats eyes lit up as she and Magician's Valkyria merged as one. Yami couldn't help but stare as blue armor adorned the girl in front of him, her long brown hair cascading down her back as her Millennium Flower became part of her headdress that sat a top her head. Semi-transparent blue wings nestled themselves between her shoulder blades as knee-high boots appeared to leave only the skin between them and the mid-thigh length skirt exposed along with her midriff, neckline and the space between her shoulder guards and elbow length gloves.

"Now I'm ready" she replied and the duo flew towards the swirling mass of sand ahead of them.

Elsewhere…

Cold blue eyes opened suddenly as the owner awoke with a start. Seto Kaiba stared into the inky black room, his mind spinning from what he'd seen despite his non-belief in it. Even so, he knew he felt a strong attachment to Keri and it was becoming something that he could no longer ignore. He needed to find her, needed to see for himself that she was safe and the only way to do that, was to go to India in person.

Game…

"Look Yami, it's the bitch trying to scare us away. Must be related to the Wicked Witch of the West with that skin colour" Keri remarked as they broke through to the eye of the storm where a witch sat on a broomstick.

"Alright voice of the whispering winds your days are numbered" Yami said, trying to ignore Keri's acute way with words.

"Behind you!" she called, pulling Yami with her as she moved to the right as a sand worm fired at them. They were quickly surrounded by the Witch's sand worms and almost as quickly as they appeared, the duo destroyed them.

"Now I will silence your voice and stop your evil ways!" Yami declared, destroying the witch.

As the storm diminished, the duo grinned to each other as Joey, Tea, Tristan, Serenity and Gramps came running over to them.

"Dude, what's with the weird get up?" Tristan teased as the five surveyed the purple armor Yami wore, not really noting Keri's blue armor since she was too busy trying to locate the village a few feet away.

"I think it suits him Tristan and besides, he's not the only one. It's a matching set" Serenity pointed out, seeing the blue armor Keri had on from her perpetual vision.

"What ya lookin' for over there anyway?" Joey asked as both their armor vanished back into the belt and plate.

"The village, it's gone" she replied, staring out into vast desert sands where the village had been.

"Hey, one of the blue gems on the necklace just turned red" Tea announced as a door suddenly appeared behind Keri; rising from the sand.

"One down, four to go" she replied, ushering them through the open door to the next level. As they passed through to the other side of the doorway, blinding light filled their vision.

Shielding her eyes, Keri noted the clouds around them and immediately determined they they were thousands of feet above the ground. A sharp pang in her chest caused her to redirect her attention towards Yami who had collapsed from exhaustion.

"Let's get him in the shade you guys" Tea instructed, allowing Joey and Tristan to carry him inside a nearby cavern.

"Hey you guys, another parchment" Serenity pointed out and the guys quickly snatched it up to try and read it.

"Aw man, we just can't catch a break" Tristan whined and tossed it to Keri to decipher.

"_The challenge of light and shadow begins inside the valley of light. Be wary of the high sun for it gives untold power. Defeat the obelisk to earn your wings_" she read in the light of the sun where she could better see the hieroglyphs.

"Let's go guys, this is one fight we can do for Yugi while he gets some rest" Joey cheered and all but Keri ran after him and Tristan.

"You're worried about the Pharaoh aren't you?" Tea remarked as she lingered outside the cavern entrance.

"You're not mad are you?" she asked, not sure which personality Tea actually liked.

"Not at all. In fact, I'd say you two were meant for each other" Tea replied with a grin and left, hurrying after the others.

"Once long ago maybe, but I know it'll never be" she whispered and tore off a piece of her top, soaking it within the cool water before folding it and laying it over Yugi's forehead. She considered Yami and him lucky enough to sleep through his fight; her's had yet to begin and her body ached with exhaustion.

'_Cat's eye barer, search your darkened soul until you find the light within. Let it shine through your desolate heart and fill you with grace'_ Closing her eyes as she sat against the wall nearby, she drifted into a meditative state and let her subconscious self search her soul.

_**If I were a bird than I'd be free, free to leave this misery. Now that I know that you're around, I'll slip away without a sound**_

'Centuries ago, a young Pharaoh sealed away an ancient evil within his own soul thus restoring peace to Egypt. In the process, he sacrificed the memories of his life, his name, and his love'

_**Silence sits within my soul, nothing left, nothing left to make it whole. To try again and start anew, to make the change to help me though**_

'Many souls where lost during the fight to save Egypt from destruction. The priest Mahad was locked inside his Ka of the Dark Magician while the priest Shada was cursed to forever wait for the Pharaoh's return. Priest Set's wife, Kisara, had her Ka stripped from her, killing her and leaving only the Blue-eyes White Dragon behind'

_**And as the rain begins to fall, casting shadows in the wall. I close my eyes and dare the thunder, break the spell that I've been under **_

'The soul of the Pharaoh's love however, was cursed to forever remain alone. Killed during the destruction and being only days away from union, it was reborn during the time of the Pharaoh's return'

_**Escape a world they cannot see, all that's empty lies in me. To try again and start anew, and make the change to help me though**_

'Kahara, daughter of Micinea, born in the City of Delphi on the Island of Greece, was destined to become Queen of Egypt and now her cursed soul will never find love'

_**Makes me want to fly away, no reasons left to make me stay. To quit before I even start, to leave this darkness in my heart**_

"Her cursed soul is my soul where only darkness lies. The only thing in the world that ever gave her hope was the Pharaoh and even now, 5,000 years later, it's still Yami" she announced to herself, admitting what she'd know all along. But somehow she felt her challenge wasn't over; if this was the shadow, where was the light?

Meanwhile…

Violet eyes carefully scanned the hieroglyphs written on the piece of parchment. He came to the same conclusion Keri's subconscious had moments ago; Joey and the others were only doing a challenge of light while she was only doing a challenge of shadow. Where was their other halves? An idea suddenly struck him and he moved inside the darken cavern and watched as the hieroglyphs changes.

Now a new problem presented itself; who needed help first? Glancing over at Keri's meditative state, he knew it would not be easy to reach inside her mind even with the Millennium Puzzle and decided to help her first. Joey and the others had each other, Keri had no one to guide her. Clasping her hands in his, he closed his eyes and sought her subconscious form.

"Keri if you can hear me, then follow the sound of my voice" he called through the mist that clouded her mind from his. As things came into view, he felt the loneliness she possessed within her. The pyramids representing her home stood enshrouded in darkness reminding him of her past. Then, he saw something that appeared as though it did not belong within her mind.

A temple, not of Egyptian origins, lit by torches with a statue centered inside it. Compelled by curiosity, he walked forwards and up the steps inside only to find himself gazing up at his own image. No name however, was inscribed anywhere to tell him who he was. Why was the statue inside her mind?

"Yami?" a small voice said and he turned to face the girl he's been looking for. Fear reflected in her eyes as she noticed he was standing inside something that was supposed to be a secret.

"Keri, the rest of your challenge could only be read in the darkness. It said…"

"I don't want to know what it said, I'm sick of this game" she interjected, stopping him from telling her the rest.

"How do you expect to get out of this game if you don't beat the level?" he asked, puzzled by her sudden decision to stop fighting.

"It's only the second level and already I've been torn apart inside with enough pain to last me decades. I can't do this; your tests are based on strength and skill but mine…I just can't do them" she replied, words failing her as she tied to explain what was wrong.

"Keri, I know what the inscription on the crypt says; what is the secret place it talks about?" he inquired, trying to understand why someone so strong couldn't fight when she needed to.

"My heart" she whispered, her simple answer shedding light on her complex situation. Suddenly, she felt herself violently thrown back into her body as she was expelled from her subconscious. Warmth flooded through her fingers as Yami tightened his hold on them.

"You see, you can make it through these tests" he said and she blinked up at him.

"But how?" she asked, unsure of how she had managed to make it through the test.

"By revealing part of your burden to someone. Keri, you've been keeping so many things secret, that they're starting to eat away at you. You needed to tell someone at least one of them" he explained, hoping she'd tell him about the temple.

"The others!" she exclaimed and stood suddenly, half dragging Yami up with her. She knew he wanted to know more about the things he'd seen while inside her mind, but she wasn't up to feeling more pain at the moment.

"They're in the Valley of Light and Joey doesn't know about the other half of the inscription" Yami replied and they took off running from the cave towards the Valley of Light.

"What's the missing half that Joey doesn't know?" she asked as they ran, intent on keeping Yami distracted from anything dealing with her.

"Once he destroys the obelisk, another creature will appear. He mustn't attack or else we lse the challenge" he explained, fully aware of what she was trying to do.

"Too late" she remarked, indicating to Joey's order to destroy the monster that had just appeared from the obelisk.

"Come forth, Dark Magician! Activate Duel Armor!" he ordered and merged with the Dark Magician, "Joey, stop!" he called and blocked the Swordsman of Landstar's attack from the creature that had appeared.

"What gives Yuge?" Joey whinned, he'd hoped to do this without Yugi's help for once.

"You've already won. The last part of the inscription needed to be read in shadow and it stated that: _Once the obelisk is destroyed, there's no need to fight anymore. Strike no against the guardian, show compassion instead_" he told them, the armor fading as a chest behind the obelisk opened to reveal seven sets of white wings. Puling them on, the doorway to the third challenge appeared in the clouds.

"Are you positive this is safe" Tea asked, trying not to look down; not that she'd see anything since they were so high up.

"Tea, give me some credit. If it wasn't safe to do, I wouldn't have put it in the game" Keri replied, causing confusion and forgotten questions to resurface.

"Then let's go!" Joey yelled and took off, Tea, Tristan, Gramps and Serenity right behind him, with Keri and Yugi bringing up the rear.


	7. Chapter Seven: I Can't Pretend

Chapter Seven: I Can't Pretend

Part One:

Night had fallen as the group made camp near the ocean, the salty breeze toying with Keri's long and no longer braided hair as she pretended to sleep. Serenity and Tea slept peacefully to the right of her while Joey and Tristan laid sprawled across each other, snoring opposite her on the other side of the campfire. Gramps slept between both sets of teens, while Yami slept leaning against a tree opposite Gramps.

She knew he was still awake; question was, did he know she was? She was trying to delay explaining to him about the things he's seen and those he'd heard her say. It was obvious he would ask questions about things, he naturally did so.

"You know, if you wanted to pretend to be asleep, it would probably help to slow your breathing" Yami's tell-tale voice drifted into her ears. She was busted, only if she took the bait and she was determined not to. A sudden hand on her shoulder made her jump, but she relaxed slightly when she recognized it's gentle touch upon her skin.

"Please look at me Keri" he whispered and with a reluctant pause, she turned to him, "I need you to understand I can't bare to see you like this. You're torturing yourself, let me help you" he continued, gazing into her sorrow filled eyes with the intent to see them filled with light.

"I can't pretend my life and this game doesn't bother me; but for you to understand why, will only place a bigger burden on you" she replied, hoping that it was good enough for him to back down.

"When will you learn you're not a burden? You're a very special and unique girl with much to offer the world" he lectured, it astounded his that she couldn't see it for herself.

"You're wrong" she said and stood, walking away from the others, "I am but one of many you keep saving. I was a nobody back then and I still am now; the only special person here is you" she continued, never meeting his violet eyes; her curse would always separate them.

"It is because you say it, that I am. Even though I've only known you a few months, I feel as though it's been longer" he replied and smiled, missing the tinge of red in her cheeks.

"I'm not the one you knew; she's been dead a long time" she said, shooting down the familiar feeling he had of her. She's been born of this century, with only ghost memories and feelings of Kahara's reincarnated soul left behind; but if that were true, then why did her own heart ache so much?

"Somehow though, I don't believe that to be true, it doesn't feel true. What secrets are you trying to keep from me?" he questioned, shrugging off her attempt to dissuade him from what he felt.

"Please Yami, don't do this" she struggled, trying to make him leave the topic alone and her along with it.

"Don't do what, Keri? Ask for your honesty? Ask what's going on and why you're upset? He retorted, raising his voice slightly as he replied to her.

"You really wanna know why I'm upset? Alright, fine, I'll tell you. I'm upset because 5,000 years ago my past self fell I love with someone, who by law, she couldn't be with; and now, 5,000 years later, that reincarnated soul fell in love with that very same person. Only this time, she can't be with him because he's dead and the spirit of a Millennium Item!" she blurted out angrily, heat radiating from her body from her anger.

Yami's eyes widened with shock as he heard her revelation of emotion. She'd known all along the horrible truth that they could never be in this world, and yet, she still ended up falling – for him.

Without thinking, Yami closed the gap between them and encumbrance the girl before him in a deep kiss. It was just as before, like he'd been waiting 5,000 years for this person to enter his life again, but why? The Pharaoh had died young and without a queen according to Ishizu; so why did this seem so right? Pulling away from her, he did the only thing he could do as he saw the tears stream down her cheeks, and that was to walk away from her and leave her alone.

_Here I sit, staring out the window at the pouring rain_

_I find, myself thinking of you again_

_When will I learn_

_When will I see_

_That we cannot be_

_Ooh, I just want to be with you_

_Can't stand being apart like this_

_Fate as been cruel this time_

_When will I get me wish_

_I miss us, I hate this_

_Our eyes, meet time and time again_

_Each time, another memory rises_

_Bringing back, a time we used to share_

_I don't want to learn_

_I don't want to see_

_I want to be_

Elsewhere…

Seto Kaiba looked out the window of his private jet as he landed in India. He'd already contacted the local police force to help him navigate to where Yugi, Keri and the others had last been reported. It was time to find the girl who had been haunting his sleep.

Game…

Everyone awoke as the sun filtered into their eyes. As they gathered their things, Keri tried to avoid Yami as much as possible because of the night before. She didn't want to be near someone who'd only cause her pain and heartache. Why did fate hate her so much? All she wanted was to live a normal live and fall in love with someone she could be with. Yami on the other hand, was trying to sort things out in his head with a little help from Yugi.

'This isn't the first time I've done this, so why is there a problem now?' he said through the link he shared with Yugi.

'You both left it alone and I'm certain that last time, she hadn't fallen for you' he replied to Yami's curiosity.

'Yugi don't be absurd, there's no way that in two months she could have…' Yami stopped as he noticed the look his hikari was giving him and sighed in defeat, 'Yugi, I don't even know why I did this' he countered, there was something going on he didn't understand.

'Maybe it's the fact that you don't know what happened after you asked her former self to the coronation means something may've happened back then' Yugi replied, they'd only seen a piece of history involving Kahara, there was more to learn.

"I wonder if she knows the rest?" Yami wondered aloud to himself as the group started to leave the make-shift campsite.

Meanwhile…

"You seem quite, is there something wrong?" Serenity asked Keri as they walked inland, trying to figure out the next challenge.

"Ren if you loved someone so much that you knew that there could be no other, but you also knew that you could never be together, what would you do?" she replied, sadness lacing through her words.

"What do you mean? If you love someone that much, nothing can stop you from being together. There's a power from love that conquers all" Serenity answered. A bright smile on her lips as she tried to cheer up her friend.

"I guess your right" she replied, thinking on Serenity's words of wisdom.

"If you don't mind me asking, who is it you want to confess to?" Serenity retorted hoping maybe she could help more.

"Um… just " she blurted quickly and excused herself to catch up to some of the others, leaving Serenity confused.

Meanwhile…

"Um…Joey, how would you apologize to someone special?" Yami asked carefully hoping his best friend could help him out.

"Come again Yuge? Shouldn't you already know that since you're a Pharaoh and all? But since you're askin' I'll let you in on how the pros do it. Just tell her how much you care when you apologize and when that doesn't work, grovel" Joey replied in his usual upbeat mannerism, causing Yami to grin a bit in response.

"Thanks Joey, I'll keep that in mind" he said, turning as he heard a noise behind him. Oddly enough it appeared as though Keri was fighting with a tree branch, which seemed to have snagged her already torn halter-top. As he made his way over to her, he heard her muttering to herself.

"Alright tree give me back my shirt before I send you to Osiris" she muttered trying to take her shirt back from the tree limbs.

"Uh Keri? I don't think the tree can hear you" he said as he easily detangled the mutilated ends of her shirt from the tree.

"I don't need you to save me from everything in this world. I'm a big girl who can take care of herself" she hissed, stalking away from him quickly causing something inside Yami to snap.

"If that were true then you would stop being such a damsel in distress" he called as he caught up with her as she froze on the spot upon hearing his words.

'I can't believe you just said that to her. You're the most cautious speaker I know' Yugi chastised, shocked Yami would ever say that to anyone.

"Then why didn't you tell me in the first place and I would've left you alone!" Keri yelled angrily, determined not to give him the satisfaction of seeing her cry again. Inside the hope Serenity had given her shattered as her heart cried out in pain, her world falling apart.

'Why fate? Why are you being so cruel?' she cried inside her mind, her spiritual self having fallen to her knees.

'Fate works in mysterious ways my child' a distant voice called to her spirit and she looked up.

'Who are you?' she called out, seeing no one.

'I am the keeper of the Millennium Items. You who holds the powers of the Millennium Flower should not be here. The Pharaoh was never destined to meet you in this life' the voice spoke again, sounding angry with her.

'I didn't decide my life, the gods did. I've done nothing wrong!' she argued, if she and the Pharaoh weren't supposed to meet, than something should have prevented it.

'You do not belong here and as such, I shall remove you from this place and into everlasting darkness of the final test' he retorted and she felt her body freeze as her mind fell into darkness.

Meanwhile…

Yami watched as the girl before him faded away into crystal stardust; the Millennium Flower the only thing left behind.

"Keri! Where are you!?"

_Ooh, I just want to be with you_

_I can't stand being apart like this_

_Fate has been cruel this time_

_Won't you let me cry_

_What part of 'together' don't you get_

_Our lives were sealed once we met_

_Love is stronger than the universe_

_And it's going to break this curse_

_I just want to be with you_

_I can't stand being apart like this_

_Fate has been cruel this time_

_When will I get my wish_

_I miss us, I hate this_

_When will they learn_

_When will they see_

_That forever we will be_

_Together you and me_

Elsewhere…

"There she is, the one that dares to defy fate" "She defied the Gods" "Punishment is eternal damnation" their whispers reached her ears as she walked towards a panel of light. The Egyptian Gods, Ra, Osiris, Met, and Seth stood waiting for her at the end of the path and they didn't seem impressed.

"Keri Tsunki, reborn soul of Kahara daughter of Micinea of the City of Delphi, do you know why you are here?" Met asked, looking down upon the human girl before her.

"Fate did something wrong?" she guessed since she hadn't a clue in Tartarus why she was there.

"You are here because an unforeseen event has occurred on Earth and as such, the course of the future is being changed" Osiris replied, the events on earth meaning a change in history anew was occurring.

"It is true that we decided long ago for Kahara's soul to be reborn in this timeline. However, we had not anticipated the Pharaoh's return to be during the same timeline" Seth revealed, it was indeed not her fault they'd met.

"We had decided that in order for you to live happily this lifetime around to not have you and the Pharaoh in the same timeline. However, we've all heard your prophecy about the Pharaoh and have decided to leave this knot in the fate's tapestry to weave itself out" Met continued, she knew that without the fate's guidance that things could go either way.

"Keri Tsunki, reborn soul of Kahara daughter of Micinea, as you are without the guidance of the fates, we shall allow you to take the knotted piece of tapestry with you. Once it has become smooth and seamless you shall know that the timeline has been corrected" Ra announced, bringing forth the tapestry from the fates loom.

"We shall return you to your world now" Osiris proclaimed and in a heart beat she was slammed back into her body as it materialized right in the middle of the final task.

"How da hell did Keri get there?" Joey asked, pointing behinds Alexander's Ten-Armed Fiend and in front of Alexander himself.

"Something tells me I'm in trouble" Keri said as she looked around at the fighting.

"Oh no, she's right between both of Alexander's monsters" Yami realized as he finally had time to look over at her.

"It seems your attempt to protect all of your friends has failed Pharaoh; and now your servant shall perish!" Alexander laughed as his Tomoru lit up like a laser security system.

"Who says I need protection. Fire Capsule, come forth Magician's Valkryia. Activate Duel Souls!" she cried and merged with her monster in time to start dodging laser beams.

"Impossible, only royalty can use sacred armor and you are a mere servant to a would-be Pharaoh!" Alexander yelled, the rules of the games stated that only true royalty could merge with monsters and there'd never been any mention of the Nameless Pharaoh having taken a queen.

"Yeah well this _servant_ just made it through your lasers back to her friends" she retorted as she stood next to Yami, refusing to back down against the Greek Conqueror.

"Face it Alexander, it's over" Yami declared as he fired up his attack, "Chaos Scepter Blast!"

"Dark Magic Attack!" Keri called, adding her powers to his own in order to defeat Alexander once and for all. Alexander had now lost the Trial of the True King and thus, with the evil banished, ascended into the afterlife with his loyal friends.

"Hey the pendant's still here" Tea announced as she picked it up; after Keri had vanished, Tea had guarded it.

"Let's see" Keri replied and Tea handed it to her, only to watch with the others as she bashed it against the wall.

"Keri!" Yami yelled as the pendant broke under the pressure of her smash.

"What? My Inset is hidden inside of it. I'm not leaving without it" she shrugged and revealed the cobalt crystal with the Millennium Eye carved inside it.

"I think you should explain yourself and how you knew so much about this crazy messed up place" Tristan demanded as Keri studied the Inset before trekking towards Yami.

"You have the Flower right?" she asked, ignoring Tristan for the moment as she tried to retrieve her Item. Yami just nodded and handed it back to her, watching as she placed the Inset into it's proper place and then refastened the Item back into her hair.

"I already told you guys earlier that I created this game, that's it, there's nothing else to it" she finally answered Tristan and started to head towards the Pyramid's exit. Once everyone was outside, the pyramid collapsed just as the rescuers that were searching for them finally found them.

"Which one of you is Keri Tsunki?" one of the rescuers asked after they had been brought up out of the canyon the pyramid had been in.

"That'd be me, why?" she replied as the group headed towards the rescue site.

"Mr. Kaiba would like to see you" he answered and led her away from the others and into a guarded tent.

"Kaiba, what the hell are you doing here?" she asked, glaring at the CEO in front of her. Seto looked over to her, immediately regretting it as the image from his dreams flashed through his mind in place of Keri.

"I want your family to stop trying to hypnotize me into believing this hocus-pocus nonsense you keep spouting" he said in place of what he really wanted to say.

"You flew 3000 miles to tell me that? It couldn't wait until we got back?" she replied quirking a brow at Kaiba's answer. Was it just her that found Kaiba strange or did everyone else? Suddenly, Kaiba moved at a lightning speed and pinned her on top if the table he'd been working at, with his hands holding her wrists.

"I flew 3000 miles because there's this notion in my head that tells me to go after you because for some odd reason, I seem to give a damn" he retorted, pressing Keri into the table so hard that it flipped over, causing them to crash onto the floor in an awkward position.

The other's instantly burst through the tent, only to have their eyes fall on Seto holding Keri down by her wrists while sitting atop her while she lay flat on her back with fear and determination in her eyes.

"Kaiba, what the hell are yah doing?" Joey asked angrily as Seto got up and left Keri lying on the sandy floor.

"I don't have to explain myself to the likes of you Wheeler" he growled and left the tent, going to set up travel arrangements.

"Are you alright? He didn't hurt you did he?" Yami asked as he helped her up, concerned Kaiba might have done something.

"I'm fine. Any chance of going home?" she replied she'd had enough adventure for Spring Break.

"I think that would depend on what Kaiba's up to. Apparently, he's the one running the show" Tristan told her, making her groan inwardly at the thought.

Later…

"Here's the deal losers; I'll take you back to Domino on one condition" Kaiba told them as they'd gone to pester him for a ride back to Japan.

"Oh yeah what's that? We let you near Keri again?" Joey retorted, angry that Kaiba had dared even try something like that.

"You must enter my newest tournament being held for the Grand Opening of Kaiba Land" Kaiba replied, ignoring Joey's comments as per usual.

"Is this yet another ploy to defeat Yugi; because seriously this rivalry is getting old and suggests to me that you need to get a life" Keri commented in a sarcastic tone, yawning as though bored.

"On the contrary, I won't be participating this time, I'm far too busy. Also, you're one of the duelist Keri" he smirked and she blinked up at him for a moment, before the strong urge to slug him took over.

"Jackass" she muttered, knowing she'd have to duel in order to go back to Domino.

"Alright Kaiba, we agree to this game of yours, only because we want to go home" Yugi told him, guessing he also had to duel along with Joey most likely. What puzzled him was why Keri as told to participate in Kaiba's competition.

Hours Later, Kaiba Land…

"He gives us a ride and then he disappears, Kaiba sure is a jerk most days" Tristan commented as they stood inside the entrance to Kaiba Land.

"At least he had someone take Serenity home before mom starts to worry about her" Joey said; Kaiba had agreed to have someone drive Serenity back to their mom's house upon landing in Japan.

"Yeah he's a truly charitable guy; he'll always be a jackass Joey" Keri retorted just as Mokuba came up to the group.

"Hey you guys, Seto asked me to show you guys around" the younger Kaiba said as he ignored Keri's comment about his brother.

"Question, who are you?" Keri asked, having never met Mokuba before.

"Mokuba is Kaiba's younger brother and the Vice-President of Kaiba Corp" Tea explained to the younger girl.

"That's right; and you can only be Keri Tsunki, Seto told me about you" Mokuba replied and she nodded, knowing Kaiba probably said nothing good.

As they walked into the Kaiba dome, a blur flew past Keri's vision and she turned to see a small blond girl latched onto Yugi. She saw Tea's eye twitch as her own lips pulled themselves into a tight smile. Yami almost couldn't contain his laughter as his astral form appeared next to Yugi.

"Who the hell are you?" Keri asked as Yugi finally managed to pry the girl off of him.

"I'm Rebecca Hawkins, U.S. Champion and self-proclaimed child prodigy. Yugi, who is this piece of trash?" Rebecca replied, holding onto Yugi's arm possessively.

"Uh Rebecca, the so called 'piece of trash' is Keri Tsunki, Australian and Egyptian Champion Duelist, and Yugi's friend" Mokuba interjected and everyone perked up at this new information.

"Did I conveniently forget to mention that?" she asked sheepishly, laughing nervously.

"Tell me you're joking. _She's_ the Double-National Champion? Regardless of that, she better stay away from my Yugi-muffin" Rebecca proclaimed, tightening her hold on Yugi's arm.

"Puh-leaze, what are you, 12? Besides, I've no interest in Yugi and regardless of that, don't you think he should decide for himself?" Keri retorted, leaving out the fact that she lived with Yugi.

"Yugi, how can you let her be so mean?" Rebecca whined as she continued to cling to him.

"Hey you guys, check it out. You can duel against a computer" Tristan interrupted, distracting Keri and Rebecca from killing each other.

"That's the KC Duel Tek 760. The duelist can choose any of the five levels to play; level one being beginner and level five being expert. Seto created it and imported his and Yugi's decks into it" Mokuba explained as they watched some kid duel against the machine with his own friends cheering him on. The kid ended up losing since he had the level set too high, but he and his friends then noticed Yugi at that point.

"Do you think you'd be able to help me with my deck Yugi, for some reason, I keep losing" the kid who had been dueling the machine asked as he held his deck.

"What's your name kid?" Keri replied as Yugi took the deck from him.

"Rick; I love Dragon Monsters so my deck is full of them" he answered and Yugi silently agreed with him as he noticed that was all that was in Rick's deck.

"Here Rick, put this magic card into your deck and I guarantee it'll help you" Yugi finally says and hands Rick the Heart of the Underdog. Once the card is securely in his deck, Rick and his friends run back to the machine to try again.

"I'll just set it to a lower level than before" Rick comments and inputs the level to Level One. However, just as Rick finished his turn and the computer starts its, the KC Duel Tek 760 does a complete 180 in programming commands.

"The doors!" Joey yells getting everyone's attention as all the doors in the KC Dome have the security guards close over them, locking everyone in.

"No one may leave unless I am defeated" the Tek 760 announces eerily as it jumps its programmed level from one to five.

Scared, Keri calms almost instantly as she feels a wind pass over her, knowing instantly that Yugi and Yami have just switched places and she watches as he jumps onto the dueling platform with Rick.

'I'm locked into a crowded building with no way out and the only way to get out is to win against a psycho computer with a monster deck' Keri thought as she assed the situation before them and she was suddenly over-come with an inability to breathe properly.

"I need…air" she muttered as the room began to spin around her.

"It's going to be alright Keri, just take deep breaths okay?" Tea soothed, trying to keep the younger girl from hyperventilating.

"Is she…is she claustrophobic?" Rebecca asked as she tried to assist Tea with the girl she'd been fighting with earlier.

"I think it's just a panic attack, she's never had any problems with small spaces before" Tea replied as they both ignored Yugi's duel to help Keri calm down.

"We need to get her into an area with the least amount of people and that isn't here" Rebecca told the older girl; after all, as a self-proclaimed child prodigy she obviously knew what to do.

"No, I need…to support…Yami" Keri argued between gasps of air as she started to hyperventilate.

"Don't worry so much Keri, we can help Yugi, so why don't you work on getting better. Alright?" Tristan responded, knowing she should only be worrying about her health and not a duel.

"But…" she began to argue, but someone silenced her.

"Tristan's right, you should take care of yourself first. I'll win this duel so don't worry" Yami interrupted, looking over to her and she nodded, conceding defeat to him.

Tea and Rebecca helped Keri as they headed towards a now unoccupied area that had benches for people to sit and rest on.

"God this is humiliating, don't suppose this is a complete and utter nightmare" Keri muttered as she tried to think of how she was ever going to live this down.

"It's a highly documented fact that people with high stress levels and bottled emotions are more susceptible to panic attacks than those without" Rebecca reiterated and gave Keri a look that pretty much stated she needed therapy.

"Hey guys!" Tristan called as he ran over to them from the duel, "Just wanted to let yah know that everything's great on Yugi's end" he said and instantly started to cower as both Tea and Keri fixed a glare on him.

"Cut the bull Tristan, what's really going on?" Tea retorted as Tristan attempted to lie through his teeth to them.

"The bot is more or less cheating so Yugi is trying to foresee its moves" he replied and Keri stood and started rifling through her deck.

"Give this to him Tristan" she told him but the trio gave her a suspicious look, "It's not cheating if it's for survival purposes" she explained, determined to get the hell out of this mess any way she could. And hell, if the computer could get away with it, why couldn't they?

"Are you sure about this?" he asked as he looked at the card she'd handed him.

"Just as long as he gives it back, now scat. I need to stop feeling like I'm in a prison" she replied and Tristan quickly scurried off back to the duel.

"What happen to you?" Joey asked as Tristan came rushing over. Ignoring Joey's question, he approached the platform.

"Hey Yugi, Keri said to use this and before you protest, she says it's not cheating if it's for survival purposes" he told Yami who stood dueling in place of Rick.

'Only she'd say that to get me to go along with this' he thought and took the card Keri was lending him.

"This duel is over" he stated to the computer and activated the borrowed magic card and within minutes, defeated the rampaging computer. As Yami and Rick descended the dueling platform, a blur latched onto Yami and surprisingly he was startled to find that it was not Rebecca this time.

" Thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you" his attacker cried as she clutched to him.

"Hold it, not 45 minutes ago you stated you weren't interested in my Yugi-muffin and now you're clinging to him" Rebecca whined and Keri let go of Yami to glare at her.

"You know, for a self-proclaimed child prodigy, you really are an idiot. Thanking someone for saving you from a psychotic robot's prison ward does not mean you like them in the way to which you are referring" she stated, leaving Rebecca fuming at the ears.

'Except in this case since Rebecca can't tell the difference, you are the one Keri likes' Yugi teased and Yami just silently switched back with him.

"Here's your card back Keri" Yugi interrupted the two as they began to bicker again, handing the magic card back to her.

"Thanks, bye now" she replied and beelined towards the doors where the other children are being picked up by their parents since it's now later in the day.

"She really hated being tapped in here didn't she?" Joey stated as they also headed towards the doors after Keri.

"Hey look, Mr. Moneybags made it" Keri announced as they joined her outside, pointing out to Kaiba's copter which had just landed.

"Seto!" Mokuba yelled as he ran passed the group to his older brother, who looks over his shoulder towards Keri who as per usual, ignores him.

"Sorry Kaiba, Yugi already saved the day so there's nothing to help boost your ego now" Tristan taunted as Kaiba headed over towards them.

"Shut up loser as long as Mokuba's safe, I don't care. That aside, Roland, triple the tournament's security for registration. Anyone who is late is disqualified; that goes for you as well Wheeler" Kaiba grins and a light bulb goes off in Keri's head.

"I volunteer myself to be disqualified" she pips up but he looks at her as though to say 'it doesn't apply to you.'

"Except her that is" he rectifies quickly and ducks as she throws a rock at his head, "Also as you are aware tonight is a formal-ish affair. Something other than those torn clothes are required" he smirks as he continues, narrowly missing the even bigger rock thrown at him.

Later…

"Keri, what's taking you so long to get changed?" Tea asked as she knocked on the stall door inside of the dressing room of a boutique they were shopping in.

"Nothing, I'm not coming out dressed like this. Can't you find me something less skanky?" she replied, unaware that men were listening in on their conversation.

"What are you talking about, you look nothing like one. Now come out already before you make the guys late" Tea stated before hearing Keri's reluctant sigh.

"Fine, but if I find them lurking, they're dead" she replied and male ears quickly vamoosed as she stepped out.

"I told you you'd look great" Tea commented as she looked over Keri's ensemble of a cobalt blue, mid-drift revealing halter top, black skort that ended about 2 inches before her knees and lace-up high heel shoes.

"I look like a hooker" she complained, male ears stretching at the mention of _hooker_, "Well?" she asked as she was clearly aware of their presence.

"Aichiwawa" Joey and Tristan whistled while both Yugi and astral Yami blushed.

"Get me black boots Tea, I'm not wearing these heels" she growled, irritated by all this. Without giving Yami any warning, Yugi switched their places, telling him to _say something_ as he did.

"Um…hello" Yami said, trying to find something to say upon her wardrobe choice.

"Pharaoh" she greeted, blushing profusely at this situation.

"Your outfit it…"

"Makes me look like a whore? I know" she interjected but Yami shook his head.

"Not at all, it suites you well" he said and she mumbled a thanks at her embarrassment as Tea appeared with boots to replace the heels.

That Night…

The gang had shown up at the ritzy registration of Kaiba's tournament. Joey and Tristan immediately ran towards the food while Tea and Rebecca mingled further down the food tables. Yugi had gone off to speak with Mokuba while Keri was planning her escape from everything.

"Who are all these people?" Yugi asked as he tried to match names to faces of people he's heard about.

"Some are major duelists, but we've also got many media members here to report on the tournament" Mokuba replied as Joey and Tristan pop up out of nowhere in front of a TV News camera and start making fools of themselves.

Meanwhile…

"Excuse me, aren't you a bit too young to be out so late?" a woman inquired of Rebecca but she ignored her reply as she suddenly spots Yugi and runs towards him.

"You're Yugi Motou aren't you. I'm Vivian Wong, but you can call me Viv. Alright cutie?" she said, crushing him between her cleavage; at least until someone ripped her away.

"Vivian was it? I don't know who the hell you think you are but I can clearly tell you're an adult where as Yugi is not. So unless you wish to be considered a pedophile, you'll leave him be, dong ma?" Keri said as she stepped between the two, her hazel eyes narrowed in a glare behind her layered hair.

"Scary chick" said Joey and Tristan coward in fear of Keri's rage.

"I wasn't aware they let trash into Kaiba's tournament" Vivian replied with a scoff.

"Double-National Champion Keri Tsunki, now get off my turf" she sneered and Vivian left, but not without the promise of beating her.

Across the room, Kaiba amusingly takes note of both the display and Keri's new attire before he turns to Roland and orders him to get started.

"But sir, we're still waiting for the last competitor to arrive" Roland protests just as the hotel doors open and the remaining challenger walks in.

"All late comers are disqualified" Kaiba reiterates as the duelist continues to proceed further into the room, as the other guests are suddenly quiet.

"Please forgive my rudeness, I vas stuck in traffic" he explains, a strong German accent giving away his nationality as Kaiba begrudgingly lets the duelist's lateness slide and motions to Roland to get on with it.

"Welcome duelists to the most prestigious duel monsters tournament, the KC Grand Prix!" Roland announces as Joey and Rebecca hurry to the stage with the other duelists while Keri drags her feet with Yugi somewhere in between the two speeds approach the stage as well.

"The following duelists will be participating in the KC Grand Prix and are some of the best duelists in the world today. Introducing the new child prodigy Leon Wilson! Robed fortune teller, Fortune Salim! Wild West Cowboy, Shane Jordan! Siberian muscle man, Sergei Ivanoff! Super-sleuth, Detective Paul McGregor! Abe the Monkey Man! Expert surgeon, Dr. Richard Goat! Master magician, Balfry Ginger! Superior illusionist, Totani Ialos! Road warrior, Ethan Shark! Robed swami, Jafar Shin! Ninja master, Vivian Wong! Self-proclaimed child prodigy, Rebecca Hawkins! Master underdog, Joey Wheeler! Mask the Rock! Stylish trendsetter, Zigfried Lloyd! Canadian Olympic snowboarder, Chi Delequois! Double-national champion, Keri Tsunki! and Duel Monsters World Champion, Yugi Motou!" Roland announced before continuing, "Whoever wins the 18 player elimination competition will face Yugi Motou for the International Duel Monsters Championship Crown!" he finishes, Yami and Keri both looking over at Kaiba in shock.

"Now to ensure fairness in this competition, match pairings will be chosen just before each duel is to begin, leaving little time to prepare for the next opponent. This is what dueling is all about!" Roland exclaims and Keri bites her cheek to keep from yelling at Kaiba.

'This is what Kaiba wants, Yami and I to face each other to see who wins as some sick form of entertainment for him. Jackass!' she thought as the rules were explained to them just as the news cameras flashed the line-up photo of them.

The Next Day…

The first round match-ups were selected right when everyone arrived that day and they consisted of: Joey vs. Mask the Rock in Block A and Leon Wilson vs. Dr. Richard Goat in Block B. The duels would be held simultaneously within the next five minutes.

"Before we begin the competition, I'd like to ask reigning champion Yugi Motou to come up and say a few words" Mokuba said as a great number of people, spectators, competitors and news people alike gather around the Kaiba Dome Stadium where the duels would be broadcasted on big-screens live and at the same time.

'I can't make a speech, can't you do it?' Yugi panics to Yami but the Pharaoh just shakes his head at the younger boy, insisting Yugi can do this challenge on his own. Although he was not being helped by a certain female who was attempting to contain her giggling.

'You know, you're not helping' he scolded Keri as she tried to restrain herself from laughing at the look on Yugi's face.

'Then you do it, or have you forgotten how?' she replied and quickly regrets her response as she remembers that he couldn't remember much at all.

Before Yami can reply to her, Kaiba's Blue-Eyes Jet suddenly appears overhead and he parachutes into the open Dome arena and takes the mic from Mokuba.

"This is not a show, it's an ultimate test of survival and only one will remain standing. Kaiba Land is officially now a battlefield!" he announced as Keri scoffed at him.

"Big ego much" she muttered as Roland took over for Kaiba, stating that Joey's match is in the Amazon Adventure Trail and Leon's is beneath the Dragon's Lair Flume; the gang stays in the dome to watch both duels on the monitors but realizes that Joey isn't where he should be.

"Hey Underdog!" Keri yelled as she spots Joey in the dome but he quickly turns around to her and tells her to shut up.

"Joey! If you don't get to the duel site in ten minutes you're disqualified!" Mokuba informs him and Joey takes off in a panic with Tristan right behind him.

"They're going to get lost aren't they?" Tea asks and Keri nods her head as they decide to watch Joey's duel up close as Mokuba shows them the secret route to the Amazon Adventure. As the others calmly make it to the site, Joey came crashing in with little seconds to spare.

"My aren't we a spry one, too bad you're not a timely one either" Mask the Rock states, his voice sounding oddly familiar to those around the site.

"Joey's opponent sounds just like Grandpa" Tristan commented as the duelists cut and shuffled each other's decks.

"It is" Yugi and Keri chime at the same time in response, both having lived with the man long enough to tell his voice anywhere. As they watch the duel progress, Gramps has a lead over Joey the entire time in both points and the fact that Joey still had yet to figure out who he was actually dueling. However, Joey surprises them all by destroying Gramp's beloved Ancient Dragon and winning with just 100 life points to spare.

"Did Joey just win?" Tea asked with disbelief as Gramps lay on his back in pain from Joey's Goblin Force Attack.

"Yeah and Gramps doesn't look too good" Tristan replied as they walked over towards the two duelists as Joey was offering his hand to Gramps. Sitting up with the aid of Joey's hand, Gramps finally takes off the mask that had been concealing his identity from Joey the entire duel.

"Grandpa! What the heck is going on here!" Joey exclaimed as Gramps chuckled at his former pupil.

"I did this in hopes of facing you Joey; after all I did teach you everything you know. A-plus job Joey" Gramps explained as Yugi helped him off the ground.

"Come on guys hurry up, the next duels are about to start" Mokuba cried as they exited the Amazon area and entered one of the main areas with TV screens broadcasting the duels.

"Hey cool Rebecca's dueling" Yugi said as the screens showed her facing Chi Delequois at the Blue-Eyes Train Station and then switched to the other duel commencing at the same time.

"Keri!" they exclaimed, not having realized she's even disappeared.

"She's dueling Vivian" Tea stated as the TV showed the duel being held at the KC Flight Deck.

"My now this is a predicament" Gramps commented just before he hunched over in pain.

"Oh dear, it appears as though he's thrown his back out" Professor Hawkins said as he entered the area, having been on his way to Rebecca's duel.

"I'll radio for a doctor" Mokuba replied as he pulled out his walkie-talkie from his pocket.

"You kids go cheer on our girls alright" Gramps insisted, ignoring Yugi's protests that he should stay with him.

"Don't worry Yugi, I'll stay with him" Professor Hawkins assured him, "Those girls of ours are the ones who need support" he concluded and reluctantly Yugi agrees to leave Gramps in his care.

'The only one Keri needs is you though' Yugi told Yami who gave him a disbelieving look.

'She'll be alright, Rebecca isn't as strong and she needs your strength' Yami argues, shocking Yugi that he'd think about leaving Keri behind, especially in a tournament so large.

"Yugi, we're heading to Rebecca's duel, you head to Keri's alright" Joey called as Yami switches places with Yugi, a confused look upon his features. Tea leaves Joey and Tristan behind for a moment and walks closer to him so only he can hear her.

"Despite her strength, if you're not there she'll end up defeating herself" she explained before heading back to the other two boys and leaving for the station.

'Seems you have no excuse now' Yugi smirked at a slightly taken aback Yami who just nodded in agreement and begins trekking towards the flight deck.

Elsewhere, Flight Deck…

"Just my luck, I get to duel the child molester" Keri scoffed as she and Vivian shuffled each other's decks.

"I wouldn't talk, go back to the red-light district where you belong" Viv smirked as they handed each other's decks back.

"Shut up and duel" she retorted and they drew their cards.

"I'll start, I play Kung-Fu Nyan Nyan in attack mode" Viv stated and ended her turn after placing the card onto the field.

"I'll place two cards face down and summon Mystical Elf on defense mode" she said and placed her cards on the field, just before Yami arrives to watch the duel.

"Oh Yugi darling you came to cheer me on, just as I knew you would" Viv cried as she began to dance about her dueling spot.

"Yeah okay, you keep telling yourself that one" Keri muttered as she realized it was Yami, not Yugi who was physically there.

"You're just jealous no one's here for you" Viv retorted and Keri's eye lit up lividly as she attempted not to kill Vivian and forfeit her duel.

"Will you just go already!? I'd rather not spend four hours dueling you because you're easily distracted!" she yelled, scaring Viv a bit and making Yugi glad Joey and Tristan weren't there.

"Alright geez, it really is only a game you know. I play Master Koyshee and since I drew, Nyan Nyan's attack points are raised to 2000. Enough to also wipe that elf off the board" Viv stated and went to attack Mystical Elf.

"Please, I activate Gravity Bind. Monsters on the field with more than three stars cannot attack and both of yours have four stars. Next I activate Graceful Charity, allowing me to draw three cards and discard two. Lastly, I'll play Fire Princess in attack mode and end my turn" Keri said, leaving Viv's monsters in a fix.

'What is she doing?' Yugi asked as he tried to figure out Keri's strategy.

'I'm not quite sure yet' Yami replied as Viv placed her two monsters into defense mode and ending her turn.

"I draw, activating Marie the Fallen One's effect. I gain 200 life points every turn Marie's in the graveyard which activates Fire Princess's effect. Every time my life points increase, your's decrease by 500. Now Fire Princess, attack Nyan Nyan" Keri ordered (4200-3500) as she eliminated one of Viv's monsters.

'So that's her plan, whipping out Viv's life points with a three-card combo until she can summon something powerful' Yami though proudly to himself as he figured out Keri's plan at least, he'd be damned if he could figure her out.

Meanwhile…

"Well it seems the stray hasn't lost her touch after the past year. I'll have to keep a close eye on her, after all, she may be facing Yugi" Kaiba mused as he watched the duels from the TV screens in his office. 'Everything is running smoothly, I'd have expected another hack by now, unless…' "Roland, I want background checks on every competitor now!" he ordered and glanced back to the duels.

Flight Deck…

"I activate my Mystical Space Typhoon to whip out your Gravity Bind" Viv proclaimed but stopped dead in her tracks.

"You activated my trap card, Imperial Order, which makes your magic cards useless. I alsov activate my scapegoats" Keri countered but Viv isn't done and summons her Gyaku-Gire Panda who's level increases by 500 points for every monster on Keri's side. It attacks Mystical Elf since it has the power to inflict damage even to defensive monsters.

"I draw, increasing my life points and decreasing yours. Since I refuse to pay to keep up Imperial Order, I can now play Token Thanksgiving, destroying my four scapegoats, raising my life points by 3200 for all of them and decreasing yours to 2500. Also your Panda's attack goes down to 1300. Next I summon Injection Lily and pay 2000 life points to increase her attack to 3400 and attack your Panda, decreasing your life points to 900" Keri stated as she ended her turn.

"You won't win, I play Luminous Clouds in order to sacrifice my monster to summon Dragon Lady. For every turn she doesn't attack, she destroys a magic or trap card so say good bye to your Gravity Bind" Viv retorted but Keri just smirked at her. "Now I play Mystic Eruption, which takes 1000 life points from any player who lost a magic or trap card this turn. Leaving your life points down to 500" Viv continued laughingly.

"I draw, increasing my life points to 700 and decreasing yours to 400. Next, I sacrifice my Fire Princess to summon Magician's Valkyria and since she can't wipe out your life points alone, I play Reborn the Monster to bring back my Fire Princess. Now attack her Dragon Lady! Now her ability kicks in, increasing my life points and wiping out yours" Keri retorted, smirking as Viv is defeated. Leaving the woman to her defeat, she turns to find Yami standing there.

"Hey, what are you doing here? I heard Rebecca was dueling that Canadian duelist" she said, joining his side.

"Joey, Tristan and Tea went to support Rebecca's duel. Certain people insisted upon me coming to watch yours" Yami explained and she nodded in understanding that he meant Yugi had insisted.

"I wonder how she did" she replied as they headed towards the station.

"Hey guys, over here!" Tristan called as he, Joey, Tea and Rebecca spot the duo.

"What is she doing with my Yugi-Muffin?" she muttered but Tea places a hand on her shoulder.

"If you look closely, you'll realize something" she said as she points to 'Yugi.'

"Wait, I remember now. That's the ancient Pharaoh, right?" Rebecca asked as she noticed something familiar she'd seen once before.

"So you see, it's not Yugi she's interested in, you've got nothing to worry about" Tea replied and the girl nodded in understanding.

"So, how'd it go?" Keri asked as they reached the others.

"I didn't win" Rebecca replied meekly, but then Joey piped up, "She almost had her though, but that chi girl pulled a win outa nowhere. It was crazy!" he explained. Keri nodded as Yugi gave Yami 'that' look.

"Look at it this way Rebecca. Even if you were unable to defeat her this time, there are plenty of other tournaments to beat her in" Keri said, trying to encourage the young girl.

"Just remember that when she beats you" Rebecca chided with a smile.

"So apparently this next match will decide Joey's next opponent" Tea interjected as they glanced up at the screens. The duelists were Zigfried Lloyd versus Fortune Salim, but something was off with Salim.

"The hell?" Keri asked as Salim suddenly became two bratty boys.

"That's Rex Raptor and Weevil Underwood. Something tells me they weren't invited" Joey replied as Mokuba began to intervene, but Zigfried insisted he continue to duel the duo.

"There's something about that guy I don't like" Keri muttered as Mokuba allowed for the duel to continue, despite the rules.

They watch as Weevil summons his Pinch Hopper, followed by Aerosol, which destroys the insect, allowing for its special effect to take place giving him the chance to summon his Insect Queen. Next, Rex plays Balloon Lizard followed by Ultra Evolution Pill, allowing him to sacrifice his Lizard and summon his Black Tyranno.

"You are but mere armatures to my own skills" Zigfried said as he drew his card, "My conquest as already begun. For I play zee magic card Ride of the Valkyries." Four Valkyries appeared, destroying Insect Queen and Black Tyranno before eliminating Rex and Weevil's remaining life points.

"Uh…ahem, the winner of after only one turn is Zigfried Lloyd!" Roland announced, after getting over his own disbelief.

"The first round of the tournament has come to a close. Round Two will now commence with Boy Wonder Leon Wilson versus The Man-Eater Ethan Shark" Roland continued. The screen behind him displayed the next two match-ups. Joey vs. Zigfried, Leon vs. Ethan, Chi vs. Balfy, and Keri vs. Paul.

"Man, cut to the chase already, I wanna duel!" Joey complained as he impatiently waited to beat Zigfried.

"Calm down Joey. You should use this time to strategize" Yugi replied to his energetic friend. He noticed that Keri had shut-up significantly, likely strategizing against Detective Paul McGreggor.

"It won't help, Joey hates cramming. He'll just have to rely on luck like always" Tristan retorted. Joey jumped him.

"Leon, what's wrong?" Tea asked as the boy looked a bit down.

"I'm afraid to win, because if I do, I'll have to face off against Yugi" he admitted, but Yugi smiled at him reassuringly.

"It's too soon to worry about that, you'll be facing Chi Delequois after you beat Ethan and from what I've been told, she's brutal" Keri stated and Leon nodded as Mokuba entered the room.

"Alright duelists, it's time to begin Round Two. Please head to your matches" he announced and Joey walked up to Zigfried, offering him a sportsmanlike good luck.

"I do not need to rely on such unprofessional things" Zigfried scorned, already playing with Joey's head.

"I'm going to beat the designer pants off that chump" Joey said and went after Zigfried.

"Watch your back Joey, and don't let him get into your head" Keri called after him as Tea and Tristan went ahead.

"You should go too; he'll need you more than I this time. That Zigfried guy can't be trusted" she told Yugi and Yami who was torn between both duels.

"You sure about this?" he asked and she smirked at him.

"My dear Watson, I do believe the good detective shall be playing the part of Dr. James Moriarty today. I'll be fine" she kidded, earning a small grin from Yugi as he recognized the reference and then headed off.

"Yugi, before you go I need to ask you something" Mokuba called as he ran up to him.

"What is it Mokuba?" he asked, clearly aware that the younger Kaiba should be overseeing the duels.

"I wanted to ask you is you've noticed any strange behaviour from any of the competitors. After the Duel Tek went crazy, Seto reinforced the firewalls. He now thinks that the person is inside the tournament and is running checks on all of the competitors" he explained. Yugi thought a moment before answering.

"I haven't noticed anything but for some reason, Keri's been suspicious of Zigfried Lloyd the better part of the tournament."

"I can't speak to her until the duel's over though" he stated. Although, unbeknown to him, Yugi's becoming upset by hearing all this.

'Just once I'd like to be in a tournament for the fun and not have to worry about the next person trying to take over the world!' he thought. Yami appears beside him.

'Yugi, try and be calm. I doubt this time it's anything like that' he tells his other half. Yugi nods sadly before heading off to Joey's duel.

"Ladies and gentlemen, the Second Round is now underway. Facing off in the House of Horrors are Leon Wilson and Ethan Shark. Next, it's show time in Kaiba Land Theater as Detective Paul McGreggor faces Double-National Champion, Keri Tsunki. Then we move to the Wheel of Wonder where Canadian Chi Delequois faced Balfry Ginger and finally, in the Volcanic Pit are Trendsetter Zigfried Lloyd and Jumpin' Joey Wheeler!" Roland announced from back in the Kaiba Dome, the duels already underway.

Volcanic Pit…

"Alright Ziggy, it's time to get down to business" Joey said as they trade decks to shuffle.

"Hey, don't start without us" Tristan called as he, Tea and Yugi arrived by Blue-Eyes Train.

"Yugi, shouldn't you be at a different duel?" Joey asked, confused by why no one's cheering on Keri.

"She's fine for this one Joey, she wanted to make sure you have all the help you need" he explained.

Zigfried scoffed at them. "Some gentleman you are letting zee woman duel alone" he said, still shuffling Joey's deck.

"Just shut up already" Joey growled. Reclaiming their decks, they get into their duelling stances.

"Zince you are at a disadvantage, you may go first" Zigfried stated, and Joey does just that, only to find he can't play a single thing.

Meanwhile…

Kaiba watched the screens intently as the duels commenced. "Seto, it's Mokuba, do you copy?" the radio crackled, breaking the silence of his thoughts.

"Go ahead Mokuba" he replied as he diverted his attention.

"I spoke to Yugi about the competitors. He says he hasn't noticed anything but says that Keri's weary of the German duelist, Zigfried Lloyd for some reason" Mokuba reported. Kaiba glanced up at Keri's duel, her opponent's life points nearly gone.

"Send her up once she wins" he told his brother and ended the transmission.

Volcanic Pit…

Joey sighed in relief as he realized Ziggy wasn;t able to win in one move again. Zigfried, however, was busy staring at his watch just before the lava pit's flames shot up around both him and Joey.

"Too hot, too hot!" Joey exclaimed as Mokuba came running up.

"Turn down the flames Mokuba!" Tristan cried as they all jumped away from them.

"I can't, this isn't supposed to happen!" Mokuba exclaimed as Joey tried not to be a shish kabob.

Elsewhere, Chi and Balfry were tossed about on the Ferris Wheel as it spun out of control; Leon and Ethan exclaimed that the Haunted House really was haunted as visions flash around them and in the Theater, the curtains tumble down leaving Keri and Detective Paul in the dark.

"Peachy" she muttered as she's unable to see anything around her.

"Ladies and gentlemen, we are experiencing some technical difficulties, please stand by" Roland said from inside the Kaiba Dome before rushing to Kaiba's office.

"Damnit! Only someone like me could pull this off" Kaiba stated as he looks at the screens where the duelists are, noting Keri's is pitch black.

"Wait a second. That party Gozoboro threw a few years back; there was some German kid who was proclaimed a prodigy. It can't be" Kaiba said as he recalled a miniature version of Zigfried being able to hack Gozoboro's mainframe.

Volcanic Pit…

"Despite the flames, they're able to duel so the match must continue. The others can't until the problems are fixed" Mokuba told Joey and Zigfried, telling them to just duel through it.

Joey continues to play, summoning his Brigadier of Landstar and orders it to attack directly.

"You've activated my trap, Wotan's Judgment, which stops your attack and lets me switch any magic card in my hand with the top card of my deck and reshuffle" Zigfried stated bored, as Yami appears next to Yugi.

'He played that card for another reason' Yugi said and Yami nodded in agreement, slightly distracted by what could be happening with Keri.

On Zigfried's next turn, he again fails to protect himself and Joey attacks, bringing his life points down to 1600. Not to be made a fool of; Zigfried draws his next card and announces Joey's defeat by Ride of the Valkyries. "Zis card allows me to summon every Valkyrie in my hand, and I have four. Valkyrie Zweite will automatically destroy one monster. My next Valkyrie will steal zee attack points of monsters removed from play and will attack you directly. Now my other three Valkyries will wipe out your life points" Zigfried explained, but Joey looked up at him and smiled, his life points remained intact at 800.

"Sorry Ziggy, but my little magic card Hyper Refresh doubled my life points to 8000 before your attack, so I'm still in this" he stated as Zigfried reshuffled his Valkyries back into his deck, murmuring to them lovingly. "Talking to 'em won't help you now and it's my turn."

Meanwhile…

"Mr. Kaiba, sir, we've isolated the virus and rebuilt the mainframe hard drive. If you would sir, we'll be back in business" a tech support told Kaiba who entered the command for the back-up.

Elsewhere, the Ferris Wheel halts, the Haunted House calms , the curtains raise and the flames die dowm.

"I should check with Seto" Mokuba said and runs off.

"Kaiba looks at the screens and sees Keri having won her duel and one of his employees ushering her towards his office. Ignoring her for now, he orders Roland to rescreen Zigfried Lloyd to see is there's any connection to the Schroeder Family.

Volcanic Pit…

Zigfried tells Joey that if he picks his own card, he's saved but if he doesn't, he's in trouble. "I pick the middle one" Joey stated and the card flips over, but it turns out to be Zigfried's Swan Maiden, allowing for Brun Hilda to attack Joey's Maximum Six, defeating him.


	8. Chapter Seven: I Can't Pretend Part Two

Chapter Seven: I Can't Pretend Part Two

Kaiba's Office…

"What now, Kaiba?" Keri asked as she was ushered inside Kaiba's private office.

"I'm trying to stop the hacker from striking again and it seems that your suspicions have proven efficient," he replied.

"So it was the German. Just disqualify him," she said, seemed simply enough to do.

"You won't have a dueling partner for the semi-finals and your opponent will be either the chick or the boy in the finals," he continued, explaining that Sigfried's disqualification automatically advanced her into the finals.

"Whatever, I didn't decide to duel again of my own free will, remember?" she replied, as Kaiba stood up and walked towards her.

"Then you've no qualms with this?" he asked, his hand reaching out to brush the skin of her tanned arm.

"With a disqualification, no; with what you're doing, yes." She moved her arm away from him, heading for the door just as a knock came from the other side.

"What?" he barked through the door.

"Mokuba is here to see you, sir," Roland's voice replied from the other side.

"Let him in," he ordered, sitting down at his desk as the door flung open and Mokuba came rushing in.

"What happened, Seto? I thought you fixed the security problems," he said, leaving the door open wide enough for Keri to slip through unnoticed by the younger Kaiba.

She headed back towards the tournament, bored with the whole concept. Up on the screens was Leon dueling Chi Delequois in the main dome arena.

"Hey guys," she called as she spotted the gang through the crowd.

"Where have you been? We heard your duel ended a while ago," Tristan commented.

She shrugged. "Took the scenic route back," she lied, knowing those violet eyes were staring straight at her calculatingly.

'She's doing it again,' Yugi sighed as Keri played off what they didn't know.

'Yes, but everyone is here so what could it be?' Yami replied, unsure of how anything could transpire with all the duelists and spectators accounted for.

"Yugi!" called a voice from across the room; turning, they saw Professor Hawkins hurrying towards them.

"Professor, what is it?" Yugi asked as Arthur stopped to catch his breath.

"I'm terribly sorry, Yugi, but I'm unable to locate Solomon. I was distracted by Rebecca's duel and since Solomon was unable to move when I left, I naturally assumed he'd still be in the medical ward but he wasn't," Arthur explained and Keri already knew that she would already be unable to help them find Grandpa.

"Professor, you stay here with Rebecca, we'll find Grandpa," Tea assured the older man who nodded in thanks.

"I'm sorry I can't join you, but the moment this duel ends…" Keri said, trailing off as the others made their leave.

"Don't worry, Keri, we'll be back in time for your duel with that pink-haired freakazoid before the first card is played!" Joey cried and she smiled laughingly at his antics.

'He's right, we will be here,' Yami insisted and she nodded, waving to them as they ran off but she doubted their words to be truth.

'I just hope Kaiba keeps his word,' she thought as Chi and Leon's duel neared its end.

Meanwhile…

The gang found themselves inside of a Chinese Restaurant?

"While we were running around like lunatics, Gramps was in here eating Won Ton Soup!" Joey complained, the trio behind him sweat dropping.

"I'm going in," Yugi asserted and stepped towards the door, opening it and slipping inside; the others following behind him.

"Is he wearing Chinese clothing?" Tristan asked as Gramps stood up and rang a gong, instantly lighting the place up to all its hidden splendors.

"Food!" Joey and Tristan exclaimed as they noticed the buffet laden tables and ran for them without a second thought.

"Hold it right there," a voice called out from the shadows and the two instantly stopped in their tracks. "I don't see your names on the guest list." The person whose voice called out jumped from the balcony above and landed onto the ground before them.

"Vivian!" Yugi exclaimed as he recognized the Chinese duelist.

"Welcome to the real tournament Yugi-pie," she replied.

Tea scoffed at her, nearly hoping for Keri to pop up and throttle her.

"Sorry, Vivian, but Keri took you out. It's against the rules no matter what you say!" Tristan interjected as he and everyone else knew what was going through Vivian's mind.

"So crawl back to the street corner you came from whore!" Keri's voice broke through, scaring Joey and Tristan witless.

"Sorry, speaker phone," Tea quietly explained as Vivian ranted back and forth with the 'non-existent' duelist.

"That's enough, Keri!" Gramps shouted suddenly, and the bickering halted. "If not for Vivian I wouldn't be standing right now, she put my back into place," he explained.

Keri scoffed through the phone. "And you trust her? Gramps she's only using you! And if you so much as hurt him Vivian, so help me I will crawl through Tea's phone and knock you back down on your ass again!" she threatened and Vivian gave the others a twisted smile, knocking Gramps back out again.

"If you want him to ever walk upright again, you'll duel me right here and now and when I win, you've to come on a date with me," Vivian said, laying out the challenge.

Angry, Yami took over. "Fine, but the moment you lose you fix Gramps back," he countered, hearing Keri screaming at Vivian through the phone.

"You damn pedophile be glad I know you'll lose or you'd be dead!" she yelled, Vivan shrugging her off as both Yugi and Yami wondered about Keri's current antics.

Elsewhere…

Keri fumed as she listened to the duel as she waited for the outcome of Chi and Leon's battle.

"She's just destroyed his only monster in play and her Dragon Lady now has 2600 attack points," Tea reiterated for her; her breath caught in her throat as she heard Vivian's cheering in the background.

"It's not over yet, I play Skilled Dark Magician in attack mode. Next I'll use Pot of Greed to draw two more cards followed by Emblem of Dragon Destroyer to bring back Buster Blader to my hand. Now I play Monster Reborn to bring back Dark Magician to my deck. I sacrifice Skilled Dark Magician to bring forth Dark Magician which I fuse with Buster Blader to form Dark Paladin. My Dark Paladin gains 500 points for ever dragon on the field and in the graveyard. Paladin, attack Dragon Lady," Yami ordered, defeating Vivian.

Keri released the breath she'd been holding and ended the phone call just as Leon lost.

"Ladies and Gentlemen, the second round of the semi-finals will now commence. Zigfreid Lloyd will face Keri Tsunki," Roland announced and Keri entered the dome, facing Zigfreid, praying for a miracle.

"You know, for such a commoner, you are quite beautiful. For a stray zat eez," Zigfreid commented as they shuffled their cards.

"And for a pink-haired freakazoid, you're a pompous ass, for an asshole that is," she retaliated, her eyes narrowed in response to his cockiness.

"Let the duel commence," Roland declared just as Yugi and the others came running in.

As they drew their hands, the appearance of a KC helicopter halted any further action as Kaiba jumped onto the stage.

"I demand this duel be stopped at once. As President of Kaiba Corp, I declare this duel invalid," he stated to the crowed, everyone staring at him in disbelief.

'So Keri was right. After all, Kaiba's not about to kick her out since it was at his instance she duel in this tournament,' Yugi thought.

Yami appeared next to him. 'I was hoping to see her duel more though,' Yami chided, pausing in his laughter as he noticed Keri glancing at him.

"As a result of a disqualification, the winner of the duel is Keri Tsunki," Kaiba continued and the crowd applauded politely but was more intrigued by Kaiba's sudden appearance.

"Eez there any particular reason for zis?" Zigfreid asked innocently of the CEO.

"You broke the tournament rules by entering under a false name, Zigfreid Von Schroder of the Schroder Corporation," Kaiba retorted, Zigfreid shrugging in denial.

"The old gaming company?" Yugi asked Gramos who nodded, explaining how once Kaiba Corp took over they were forgotten.

"Now get out and take your bad hair with you," Kaiba ordered but Zigfreid laughed.

"Freakzoid," Keri muttered but he shot her a look.

"What are you afraid of, Kaiba? Eez it because if I win zee tournament you'll never win zee title back?" he taunted.

Kaiba chuckled cockily but was interrupted before he could even reply.

"Who the hell would fear you? You're wearing a frilly shirt and pink suit and not to mention, you've got rose petals flying around you every time you duel; you think we fear that!" Keri smirked, Gramps shaking his head at her.

"She's got a point, no man should dress like that," Tristan agreed as he and Joey both agreed with her statement.

"I'm tossing you out because I don't like you, not because I'm scared of you. I promised not to duel in this tournament but since I've a chance to embarrass you I think I'll make an exception," Kaiba interjected, causing Keri to roll her eyes.

'Egotistical maniac,' she thought and swore she heard someone laugh at her words.

"Alright zen Kaiba, but if I vin I get to stay in zee tournament," Zigfreid agreed.

"Uh…there's been a slight change in schedule. Tournament host Seto Kaiba will face off against Zigfreid Von Schroder!" Rolland quickly announced as both CEO's stood ready to battle it out.

"Hey guys," Keri said as she joined the gang on the ground below the dueling platform. "So I guess I'm facing Chi Delequoix for the crown," she shrugged, already knowing Kaiba would win against the powderpuff.

One Hour Later…

"I'm glad you came Zigfreid so I could publically humiliate you all over again," Kaiba smirked as his Blue-Eyes wiped out the last of Zigfreid's life points.

"Can you believe that guy?" Rebecca commented as Zigfreid tried to insist that it wasn't over yet.

"Kind of, Kaiba's an ass most days so he's no shortage of enemies," Keri retorted causing Yugi and Yami to exchange a look behind her back.

"He stepped over the line the minute he decided to put lives in danger," Tea stated, recalling the psycho duel system and the park's attractions going haywire.

"Attention guests, the final round of the tournament is about to commence. Double National Duelist Keri Tsunki shall face off against Canadian Duel Champion Chi Delequoix," Rolland announced, both Joey and Tristan grinning happily at the news.

"Cat fight!" the duo cheered , Tea rolling her eyes at them.

Two Hours More Later…

"Holy shit, she won!" Tristan commented since it seemed damn impossible that she would.

"That's Keri for yah, always full of surprises," Joey replied.

Yami couldn't help but agree that one way or another that it was true. However, her winning meant that they'd be dulling each other and he wasn't sure if that was something either of them could do.

Keri waved to her friends before quickly cantering off to find a certain pain-in-the-ass-who-needed-to-die. "Kaiba." She was itching to smack that smug look off his face as she neared him.

"Stray," he replied just as curtly.

"We completed our objective, now take us home," she demanded. She'd won the tournament, she wasn't about to fight Yami.

"What about facing Yugi?" he inquired.

"I don't need nor care to duel him and if you won't take us back, I'll have you murdered," she threatened.

"And the public?"

"Duel him yourself if you truly care but I sure as hell don't," she hissed and walked off towards the group about ready to kill somebody.

"Ladies and gentlemen, due to circumstances beyond our control, the exhibition duel for the International Duel Monsters Championship Crown has been cancelled," Roland announced.

The crowd instantly began to whisper amongst themselves spreading rumors that Keri was afraid to lose to Yugi or that they were secretly dating.

"We're going home" Keri announced to the group after Roland had just informed them the duel was cancelled. They quickly dropped the issue seeing the mood she was in.

Domino…

Keri was glad to be back in Domino and grateful to see her bed as exhaustion swept through her. Intent on fully collapsing onto the bed, she switched into a pair of comfy P.J.s and crawled underneath the covers. As she switched off the light and succumbed to darkness, she fell into the ancient past.

Egypt 2994…

Kahara sighed as she thought over the news she'd just learnt. It was something that couldn't be ignored despite the fact that who she needed to talk to was currently away.

"Kahara you seem lost, is anything wrong?" Mana asked as she, Kisara and Methos joined her in the court yard.

"I'm trying to decide that. I found out something that Ai should know about but I'm not sure how other people might take it," she replied.

"Well, what is it?" Kisara urged her friend and savior.

"I'm with child," she divulged, watching as her friends eyes widened at her news.

"You shouldn't wait for the Pharaoh's return, send him a letter. Jono will know where he is," Mana exclaimed.

Kahara knew her friends were right, but somehow in her heart she felt that the letter would never reach him.

Present…

Keri awoke with a start, breathing heavily as she took in her surroundings. The scene she'd just witnessed sat clearly in her mind; her past self had been pregnant with Yami's child. Glancing over at her bedside table, the knotted tapestry seemed to taunt her for only a few threads had become corrected.

Quietly, she slipped down towards the kitchen where she grabbed a box of poky and a warm cup of tea and sat down to think.

Unknown to her, someone else was awake within the room as violet eyes watched her with concern. Spring break had ended that very day and both Keri and Yugi would return to school in the morning, something Yami was wondering if Keri could handle.

Next Day…

Yugi yawned as he sat in history class listening to the teacher blab on about something. Beside him, he noticed Keri asleep at her desk behind her text book so that the teacher couldn't notice. As the final bell rang, Yugi shook her awake.

"You okay? You fell asleep," he asked her as they walked home.

"Yeah, still just getting over our really long-ass trip is all. I'll be fine," she replied with a cheery smile on her face.

Things, however, weren't fine. Everyday continued the same; Keri would wake from a dream, she'd wander into the kitchen until school started, she'd sleep in class and her grades were now beginning to slip. Everyday she'd assure Yugi she was fine until…

Yugi, Joey and Tristan were lounging in class during recess as Duke came running into the room.

"Guys, Tea just sent me from the gym; Keri collapsed during class."

"Where is she now?" Yugi asked, feeling Yami suddenly stir loudly inside his mind.

"They took her to Domino Hospital."

Domino City Hospital…

As she opened her hazel eyes, she noticed that night had fallen and the sound of a machine beeping filtered into her ears. Looking around, she realized that Yugi was asleep in the chair next to her. She felt a chill down her spine as Yami's astral form appeared.

'Why do I get the feeling - '

"That you're in trouble?" Yami finished for her, his mind linked with hers.

"I am, aren't I?" she replied, casting her gaze downwards, away from his piercing violet eyes.

"That would depend on your view of things I suppose. The nurse found something among your possessions I've found quite interesting; a piece of an ancient tapestry," he told her, nodding over to the bedside table.

"When I disappeared from the game, a mysterious man with the Millennium Key sent me to the Gate of Judgment. There, the gods told me that the timeline was knotted because…because…" she tried to explain but couldn't force the words out of her mouth.

"Because what? What did the gods tell you?" he urged soothingly, trying not to pressure her as she hid her face from him.

"Because, I'm not supposed to be here with you," she revealed, tears trailing down her cheeks silently.

Yami was taken aback; everyone he had known in a past life was here with him, yet the gods hasn't wanted for he and Keri to meet in this life; but why? Did she know why they didn't want this?

"I don't understand, why would they do that?" he questioned, sitting down next to her on the bed.

"I wasn't told why," she lied, not wanting him to know that it was to prevent her, this heartache.

He nodded, accepting her answer as she settled back to sleep. The pale stream of moonlight making her mysterious beauty glow. It was this beauty that had first drawn him to her; naturally, he grew to adore every aspect of her, including the inner strength he knew lay within her. Secretly he wished to just stay here with her, but he knew it couldn't happen.


End file.
